The Snail Darter And The Dam

DIVEven today, thirty years after the legal battles to save the endangered snail darter, the little fish that blocked completion of a TVA dam is still invoked as an icon of leftist extremism and governmental foolishness. In this eye-opening book, the lawyer who with his students fought and won the Supreme Court case—known officially as Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill—tells the hidden story behind one of the nation’s most significant environmental law battles. /divDIV The realities of the darter’s case, Plater asserts, have been consistently mischaracterized in politics and the media. This book offers a detailed account of the six-year crusade against a pork-barrel project that made no economic sense and was flawed from the start. In reality TVA’s project was designed for recreation and real estate development. And at the heart of the little group fighting the project in the courts and Congress were family farmers trying to save their homes and farms, most of which were to be resold in a corporate land development scheme. Plater’s gripping tale of citizens navigating the tangled corridors of national power stimulates important questions about our nation’s governance, and at last sets the snail darter’s record straight. /div

DIVThe untold story of a notorious environmental case and the citizen crusade that carried a little fish through Washington politics and the Supreme Court/div

Main description: The first listed species to make headlines after the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 was the snail darter, a three-inch fish that stood in the way of a massive dam on the Little Tennessee River. When the Supreme Court sided with the darter, Congress changed the rules. The dam was built, the river stopped flowing, and the snail darter went extinct on the Little Tennessee, though it survived in other waterways. A young Al Gore voted for the dam; freshman congressman Newt Gingrich voted for the fish. A lot has changed since the 1970s, and Joe Roman helps us understand why we should all be happy that this sweeping law is alive and well today. More than a general history of endangered species protection, Listed is a tale of threatened species in the wild-from the whooping crane and North Atlantic right whale to the purple bankclimber, a freshwater mussel tangled up in a water war with Atlanta-and the people working to save them. Employing methods from the new field of ecological economics, Roman challenges the widely held belief that protecting biodiversity is too costly. And with engaging directness, he explains how preserving biodiversity can help economies and communities thrive. Above all, he shows why the extinction of species matters to us personally-to our health and safety, our prosperity, and our joy in nature.

The book Dam Greed reveals the second effort to save the Little T by lawyers who saw unique beauty in the river and alternative ways to bring industry and money to the area without flooding. The lawyers, scientists, and archaeologists tried to prevent the destruction of the land, water, farming businesses, recreation areas, and historical sites. They reveal the politics that disregarded the environment, free enterprise, and the Endangered Species Act. The book may be purchased over the Internet at http://www.xlibris.com or locally at Sloan’s Center in Madisonville or Vonore, Susan Morris Art Gallery in Sweetwater, John Hall Museum in Tellico Plains, and McKenzie Books in Athens. The cover was made by Julie Jack, a professor of art at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tennessee. Water, the sky, a map of the area, and the Rose Island holly are shown with Robert and Bruce Dorward, the husband and the son of the author. Ms. Jack’s work is available at Athens Art and Frame Shop. Her Web site is http://www.juliejack.com, and she is available as a visiting artist and instructor at conferences and workshops.

With the discovery of a tiny fish in a soon-to-be-flooded stretch of the Little Tennessee River, construction on a dam that had already cost taxpayers $100 million came crashing to a halt. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the snail darter was instantly transformed into both an icon for species preservation and a despised symbol of the environmental movement's alleged excesses. The intense legal battle that ensued over its fate was contested all the way to the Supreme Court. The 1978 decision in TVA v. Hill, the Court's first decision interpreting the Endangered Species Act, remains one of the most instructive cases in American environmental law. Affirming an injunction that prohibited the Tennessee Valley Authority from completing the Tellico Dam because it would eliminate the snail darter's only known habitat, the Supreme Court resolved an intragovernmental dispute between the TVA and the Interior Department as well as the claims of the local opponents of the dam. Kenneth Murchison reveals that the snail darter case was just one part of a long struggle over whether the TVA should build the Tellico Dam. He traces disputes over the TVA's mission back to the 1930s and intertwines this with the emergence of federal environmental law in the 1960s and 1970s, culminating in the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act, both of which provided a statutory basis for litigating against the dam builders. He continues with an exhaustive analysis of the arguments, deliberations, and decision of the Supreme Court, based largely on original sources, before concluding with a summary of the subsequent congressional actions and administrative proceedings that ultimately allowed the dam's completion. By plumbing the Court's deliberations, the politics behind the law, and the way that law spurred political responses, Murchison clarifies how the story of darter and dam came to exemplify the tensions and conflict between legislative and judicial action. Even though its players were left with only partial victories, TVA v. Hill helped to define the modern role of the TVA and remains an important chapter in the development of federal environmental law. Murchison helps us better understand this landmark decision, which drew the battle lines for current debates over the environment and the policies that protect or regulate its use.

One hundred years ago, a beached whale would have been greeted by a mob wielding flensing knives; today, people bring harnesses and boats to help it return to the sea. The whale is one of the most awe-inspiring and intelligent animals in nature, sharing a complex relationship with humans that has radically evolved over the centuries. Joe Roman offers in Whale a fascinating and in-depth look at the cultural and natural history of these majestic aquatic mammals. From the Biblical prophet Jonah to Moby-Dick to recent discoveries of cetacean songs and culture, Roman examines the whale's role in history, art, literature, commerce, and science. Whale features vibrant illustrations, ranging from Stone Age carvings to full-color underwater photographs, which vividly bring to life the rich symbolic meanings surrounding the whale. Roman also examines the ecological and evolutionary history of the whale as well as contemporary issues of conservation. Whale is an engaging volume that will appeal to all those interested in the important role that these kings of the ocean have played in human culture.

The darters are a fascinating group of colorful and diminutive freshwater fish whose beauty rivals that of the tropical reef fishes. Native only to North America, the darters occur widely, especially in the United States, but are little known to the general public, largely because of their small size—few exceed six inches and some measure a mere one inch at maturity. This book is the first comprehensive guide to the darters, covering all named and several undescribed forms—140 species in all. Each species account includes a synoptic description to aid in separation of similar species and subspecies, a range map, and discussion of the species' distribution, natural heritage, abundance, and scientific name. An illustrated key and glossary will further assist scientists, students, fishermen, and aquarium specialists in identifying darter species. Central to this volume is the series of 144 handsome color photographs illustrating nearly all known darter species and several subspecies. Most of the specimens shown were caught by the authors at sites throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and photographed by them on site using a recently developed technique that captures the full brilliance of the living fish. Because of their importance as indicators of environmental quality, the darters are receiving increasing attention today from scientists and naturalists. Public interest was focused recently on the plight of the snail darter, but many other darter species are either threatened or endangered, and others face an uncertain future as human activities continue to degrade our waterways. All those with an interest in preserving the natural heritage of our rivers and streams will find this comprehensive guide to the darters an invaluable tool.

Too many laws, too many lawyers--that's the necessary consequence of a complex society, or so conventional wisdom has it. Countless pundits insist that any call for legal simplification smacks of nostalgia, sentimentality, or naivete. But the conventional view, the noted legal scholar Richard Epstein tells us, has it exactly backward. The richer texture of modern society allows for more individual freedom and choice. And it allows us to organize a comprehensive legal order capable of meeting the technological and social challenges of today on the basis of just six core principles. In this book, Epstein demonstrates how. The first four rules, which regulate human interactions in ordinary social life, concern the autonomy of the individual, property, contract, and tort. Taken together these rules establish and protect consistent entitlements over all resources, both human and natural. These rules are backstopped by two more rules that permit forced exchanges on payment of just compensation when private or public necessity so dictates. Epstein then uses these six building blocks to clarify many intractable problems in the modern legal landscape. His discussion of employment contracts explains the hidden virtues of contracts at will and exposes the crippling weaknesses of laws regarding collective bargaining, unjust dismissal, employer discrimination, and comparable worth. And his analysis shows how laws governing liability for products and professional services, corporate transactions, and environmental protection have generated unnecessary social strife and economic dislocation by violating these basic principles. Simple Rules for a Complex World offers a sophisticated agenda for comprehensive social reform that undoes much of the mischief of the modern regulatory state. At a time when most Americans have come to distrust and fear government at all levels, Epstein shows how a consistent application of economic and political theory allows us to steer a middle path between too much and too little.