“I wanted to share this with all the twists and turns to bring America to recognize the reality of this story and the world we live in,” said Plater. This case is considered one of the most important environmental cases ever, and still resonates today, with environmentalists continuing efforts to protect and restore endangered species and ecosystems. “Since only the snail darter got public attention, we lost the case, leading to a loss of 330 family farms and the near extinction of the fish.” “Everything is connected to everything else, the snail darter was connected to the river, which connected to the farmers,” said Plater. With an endangered species at risk, Plater was able to build a strong case against TVA and the Tellico Dam. “My favorite is a Rush Limbaugh quote, ‘A huge hydroelectric dam was halted by a tiny stupid fish, environmental extremism and deviated homo-socialists!’ I don’t even know what a homo-socialist is,” said Plater. He went on to describe how many individuals weren’t sympathetic to the snail darters, referring to them as “stupid little fish.” He read quotes from conservatives revealing their views on the issue. The snail darter, a tiny fish that notoriously blocked a federal dam project in Tennessee decades ago, should no longer be on the endangered species list, federal officials announced on Tuesday. Hill,” describing how a small group of individuals who lacked financial and political support worked their way to the Supreme Court and caused a major halt to the hydroelectric dam project. Plater discussed the story behind the court case of 1978, “Tennessee Valley Authority v. According to Plater, “The little Tennessee River was the best trout stream east of Montana.” At the time, the river was the only known habitat for the snail darter. The dam would have stopped the natural current, allowing mud to pile up where the darters bury their eggs, leading to suffocation. The building of the Tellico dam would not only have flooded 330 farms but would have forced the snail darter, a one-and-a-half inch fish into extinction. Accompanied by students, lawyers and activists, managed to temporarily halt the construction of a federal dam project by invoking the Endangered Species Act. Plater, now a distinguished law professor at Boston College, was the lead attorney in the fight to save the Little Tennessee River. B Plater, author of “The Snail Darter and the Dam: How Pork Barrel Politics Endangered A Little Fish and Killed A River,” spoke at Eastern Connecticut State University on April 1 about his book and the historic Supreme Court case on which it’s based. If delisted, it will join 52 other species that have been removed from the ESA due to recovery efforts since 1973.Zygmunt J. Snail darters are currently found in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee. They were discovered in 2015 downstream and in eight of the Tennessee River’s nine reservoirs spanning 442 river miles. TVA began a program to increase dissolved oxygen concentrations and downstream water flows, with the goal of recolonizing the Tennessee River with snail darters. The snail darter was declared an endangered species in 1975 and downgraded to a threatened species in 1984. The snail darter is a member of the Percidae family alongside perch, walleye, and ruffe species. Snail darters from the Little Tennessee River were relocated to Tennessee’s Hiwassee and Holston rivers. Snail Darter Fun Facts: The Little Tennessee River was the snail darter's only known spawning habitat when the species was listed as endangered. TVA has since improved the quality of the water and added fish habitat. In 1979, Congress passed an amendment exempting the Tellico Dam from ESA consultations after the judge ruled in favor of fish protections. An ESA case involving snail darters reached the Supreme Court in 1973, shortly after Congress passed the landmark environmental law. The darter was first listed as a federally endangered species in 1975. The dam formed a 30-mile-long reservoir from the Tennessee River, impounding water that covered 16,500 acres of farmland. Snail darters, a member of the perch family, grow up to 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) long and mostly eat fresh-water snails. TVA began building the Tellico Dam and Reservoir Project in 1967 to promote shoreline development, generate power for 20,000 households, and provide flat-water leisure and flood management. In reality, however, the farmers, members of the Cherokee Nation, and concerned. In 1975, TVA’s unfinished Tellico Dam threatened the snail-eating species. Summary: The snail darter has become a symbol of environmental extremism. On August 31, a proposal was released to remove the tiny snail darter from the endangered species list of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Source: TVA Stakeholder Newsletter | TVA | September 13, 2021
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