As you can learn about in this Tom Kenworthy story from the fall issue of Trout, environmental efforts to stop the Tellico Dam from being built on the Little Tennesse River in the 1970s shaped and tested the then-new Endangered Species Act into the law it is today. TU members, along with allies from many fields, helped define the ESA’s legal teeth, despite the political meddling that eventually overruled the opposition to Tellico Dam at the highest levels of government.
A young University of Tennessee law professor helped lead the legal battle at the time, and was eventually dismissed from the university for his efforts. Here, Zygmunt Plater remembers the Tellico Dam fight and analyzes the legal issues that made this one of the most memorable cases in ESA history.
By Andrew Bennett October 1, 2009 - 6:15 pm
The article about the Tellico Dam fight was a great introduction into the use of the ESA as a legal tool – thanks for a great read.
It was also great to learn about the snail darter!