Tellico Dam

In an effort to put people back to work during the Great Depression, several public works and conservation programs were set in motion. One of these, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), was established in 1933 to protect the Tennessee River basin, its water, soil , forests, and wildlife . TVA initiated many projects to meet these agency goals, but also to provide employment to this impoverished area and to slow the emigration of the region's youth. Many of the projects completed and operated by TVA were dams and reservoirs along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. In 1936 one such project site was identified on the lower end of the Little Tennessee River. This proposal for Tellico Dam was reviewed, but it was abandoned because the cost was too high and the returns too low. The project was reconsidered in 1942, and plans were drawn up for its construction; however, World War II halted its development.

Two decades passed before the Tellico Dam project became active again. By this time, there was some opposition to the dam from local citizens, as well as from the Tennessee State Planning Commission. Opposition grew through the mid-1960s and congressional hearings were held to study the economic and environmental factors of this project. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas even visited the site to lend his support to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian Nation, whose land would be inundated by Tellico's reservoir . Congress, however, approved the project in 1966 and authorized funds to begin construction the following year.

After construction started, opponents of Tellico Dam requested that TVA prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. TVA refused because Tellico Dam was already authorized and under construction before the Act was passed. Local farmers and landowners, whose land would be affected by the reservoir, joined forces with conservation groups in 1971 and filed suit against TVA to halt the project because there was no impact statement. The court issued an injunction, and construction of Tellico Dam was halted until the EIS was submitted. TVA complied with the order and submitted the final EIS in 1973. That same year the Endangered Species Act was signed into law, and two ichthyologists from the University of Tennessee made a startling discovery in a group of fishes they collected from the Little Tennessee River.

They discovered a new species of fish, the snail darter , later scientifically described and named Percina tanasi. Its scientific name honors the ancient Cherokee village of Tanasi, a site that was threatened by Tellico Dam. The state of Tennessee also takes its name from this ancient village. The snail darter's common name refers to the small mollusks that comprise the bulk of its diet. In January 1975, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was petitioned to list this new species as endangered. Foreseeing a potential problem, TVA transplanted snail darters into the nearby Hiwassee River without consulting with the Fish and Wildlife Service or the appropriate state agencies. Two more transplants of specimens in 1975 and 1976 brought the number of snail darters in the Hiwassee to over 700. Meanwhile, in October 1975, the snail darter was placed on the federal endangered species list, and the stretch of the Little Tennessee River above Tellico Dam was listed as critical habitat .

TVA worked feverishly to complete the project, in obvious violation of the Endangered Species Act, and also prepared for the ensuing court battles. A suit was filed for a permanent injunction on the project, but this was denied. An appeal was immediately made to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which overturned the decision and issued the injunction. TVA then appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, which, to the surprise of many, upheld the Court of Appeals ruling, but with a loophole. The Supreme Court left an opening for the U.S. Congress to come to the aid of Tellico Dam. In 1979, an amendment was attached to energy legislation to exempt Tellico Dam from all federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act. President Carter reluctantly, because of the amendment, signed the bill. In January 1980, the gates closed on Tellico Dam, flooding over 17,000 acres (6,885 ha) of valuable agricultural land, the homes of displaced landowners, the Cherokee's ancestral burial grounds at Tanasi, and the riverine habitat for the Little Tennessee River's snail darters.

Fortunately, Tellico Dam did not cause the extinction of the snail darter. During the 1980s, snail darter populations were found in several other rivers in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, and the transplanted population in the Hiwassee River continues to thrive.

[Eugene C. Beckham ]

RESOURCES

BOOKS

Ono, R., J. Williams, and A. Wagner. Vanishing Fishes of North America. Washington, DC: Stone Wall Press, 1983.

Wheeler, W. B. TVA and the Tellico Dam: 1936–1979: A Bureaucratic Crisis in Post-Industrial America. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986.