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The Snail Darter and the Dam: How Pork-Barrel Politics Endangered a Little Fish and Killed a River
The untold story of a notorious environmental case and the citizen crusade that carried a little fish through Washington politics and the Supreme Court
Even 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.
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.
Even 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.
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.
- GenresEnvironmentNonfiction
392 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 2, 2014
I read this book after Professor Plater did a guest lecture in my Environmental Law class. His lecture was wonderful, and it was fun to learn more about this case in his book. I had never heard of the Tellico dam before. The book is well-written and engaging. Prof. Plater's passion is very evident. I would be interested in reading more about the Tellico case written from other points of view.
January 12, 2017
In The Snail Darter and the Dam, Zygmunt Plater describes his famous legal battle over Tennessee’s Tellico Dam, which he argued all the way to a 6-3 US Supreme Court victory in 1978. Plater and local activists argued that the dam would threaten the endangered snail darter fish, a violation of the recently-passed Endangered Species Act. The media covered it as a case of environmentalism run amok, but the ESA appeal was a backdoor to stopping an unsound project. Despite the court victory, a congressional finding that the dam project was financially unsound to finish even at 95% complete, and the fact that the dam would submerge some of the oldest human artifacts in the country, the dam was completed and stands today. The Snail Darter and the Dam details the grueling work of grassroots activism and the hazards of bureaucracy and entrenched interests.
WHY THIS BOOK?
This summer, I read Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water , a tale of water administration. Before moving west, I had no idea what skullduggery surrounded the history of water rights. Reisner’s description of the Tellico Dam battle, though brief, was intriguing. Snail Darter was written so recently by a member of the legal team, a different perspective than that offered in Cadillac Desert.
THE GOOD
Snail Darter is the story of a young law professor who follows sound and sober reason and is battered by our bureaucratic institutions. He loses his job, and works himself to exhaustion trying to achieve the impossible: getting members of the bureaucracy and government to see a deeply-flawed bureau project for what it is. He fails.
Snail Darter is the story of a region’s struggles against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The Little Tennessee River was one of the last free-flowing rivers in the backyard of the energy bureaucracy behemoth. It was one of the last fly fishing rivers in the east. It was the site of Cherokee settlements dating back over 10,000 years, many with religious significance. It was fertile farmland. In spite of this, the TVA wanted to build a dam that wouldn’t even supply power. It was originally pitched as a way to grow an industrial city anchored by Boeing. After Boeing backed out, the TVA continued to fight for their pointless and destructive project. The locals fought the dam starting in the mid 60’s. Lawyer and author Zygmunt Plater joined the fight in 1974.
Conservatives like Sean Hannity, Antonin Scalia, and George Will still invoke the snail darter as a symbol of environmentalism run amok. How ironic—the darter was the last means for locals to halt an impractical dam foisted upon them by a federal bureaucracy. As Plater tells it, the darter was only successful in holding up the dam because of the deep unsoundness of the project. At last, there was a mechanism to force scrutiny upon the insane project, a back door by which to achieve oversight. Opposition to Tellico Dam should have been bipartisan—it was porkbarrel without economic upshot.
People don’t remember that part of the story because the media failed. Walter Cronkite called the lawsuit “frivolous.” Respected giants like the New York Times and ABC framed the lawsuit as an intractable conflict between economics and environment rather than covering the project’s flaws. They failed to cover the situation of farmers like Nell McCall; only 3 of her 90 acres would be submerged by the reservoir but the TVA would buy her out at suppressed prices to sell to the industrial city that no longer had tenants. If we think that media is flawed today, unable to give nuance and factual coverage, well, it’s nothing new.
Plater describes the support of grassroots organizations in Washington, DC. These are the counterparts to the lobbyists of K Street, devoted and passionate people who sleep on couches or at their desks waging an unfunded but righteous battle. Plater received extensive help from Anne Wickham of Friends of the Earth, Dave Conrad of America Rivers, and others.
Snail Darter describes the “Iron Triangle” that supports bureaucracies like the TVA. In the Iron Triangle, congress, bureaucracies, and interest groups support one another in the advancement of projects, each reinforcing one another’s weak points. For Tellico Dam, connected members of congress supported the TVA, which was supported by private construction companies. These three groups can mobilize money, media, and attack dogs that a grass roots organization can’t hope to oppose. In the case of Tellico Dam, the Iron Triangle triumphed over a Supreme Court ruling, economic inviability, and a hostile president, leading to the dam’s completion in 1979.
THE BAD
The subject matter is depressing. But as a meat eater has an obligation to understand that his steak once belonged to a cow, I’d argue an American has an obligation to learn about the making of law. It’s ugly. And in Snail Darter, a totally awful project is built for the vanity of a few removed bureaucrats, over the protest and struggle of hundreds. But they wouldn’t have succeeded if more people had cared when it mattered.
OVERALL
Snail Darter peeks inside government and bureaucracy. It shows what happens when media fails to be the fourth estate. 40 years later, the snail darter controversy remains misunderstood.
Today, we hope the media will be vigilant and informative; we hope it will stand up to government apparatus if it abuses people. Snail Darter suggests a certain pessimism to that hope, but it also provides an instruction manual for how accountability can work. In Plater’s tale, grassroots organizations interacted with congress and tried to inform the media. Donations to organizations like the ACLU and SPLC have skyrocketed recently. That’s encouraging.
I’m not a law buff, but Snail Darter was engrossing. If you are American and have ever liked a nonfiction book, I recommend this one.
WHY THIS BOOK?
This summer, I read Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water , a tale of water administration. Before moving west, I had no idea what skullduggery surrounded the history of water rights. Reisner’s description of the Tellico Dam battle, though brief, was intriguing. Snail Darter was written so recently by a member of the legal team, a different perspective than that offered in Cadillac Desert.
THE GOOD
Snail Darter is the story of a young law professor who follows sound and sober reason and is battered by our bureaucratic institutions. He loses his job, and works himself to exhaustion trying to achieve the impossible: getting members of the bureaucracy and government to see a deeply-flawed bureau project for what it is. He fails.
Snail Darter is the story of a region’s struggles against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The Little Tennessee River was one of the last free-flowing rivers in the backyard of the energy bureaucracy behemoth. It was one of the last fly fishing rivers in the east. It was the site of Cherokee settlements dating back over 10,000 years, many with religious significance. It was fertile farmland. In spite of this, the TVA wanted to build a dam that wouldn’t even supply power. It was originally pitched as a way to grow an industrial city anchored by Boeing. After Boeing backed out, the TVA continued to fight for their pointless and destructive project. The locals fought the dam starting in the mid 60’s. Lawyer and author Zygmunt Plater joined the fight in 1974.
Conservatives like Sean Hannity, Antonin Scalia, and George Will still invoke the snail darter as a symbol of environmentalism run amok. How ironic—the darter was the last means for locals to halt an impractical dam foisted upon them by a federal bureaucracy. As Plater tells it, the darter was only successful in holding up the dam because of the deep unsoundness of the project. At last, there was a mechanism to force scrutiny upon the insane project, a back door by which to achieve oversight. Opposition to Tellico Dam should have been bipartisan—it was porkbarrel without economic upshot.
People don’t remember that part of the story because the media failed. Walter Cronkite called the lawsuit “frivolous.” Respected giants like the New York Times and ABC framed the lawsuit as an intractable conflict between economics and environment rather than covering the project’s flaws. They failed to cover the situation of farmers like Nell McCall; only 3 of her 90 acres would be submerged by the reservoir but the TVA would buy her out at suppressed prices to sell to the industrial city that no longer had tenants. If we think that media is flawed today, unable to give nuance and factual coverage, well, it’s nothing new.
Plater describes the support of grassroots organizations in Washington, DC. These are the counterparts to the lobbyists of K Street, devoted and passionate people who sleep on couches or at their desks waging an unfunded but righteous battle. Plater received extensive help from Anne Wickham of Friends of the Earth, Dave Conrad of America Rivers, and others.
Snail Darter describes the “Iron Triangle” that supports bureaucracies like the TVA. In the Iron Triangle, congress, bureaucracies, and interest groups support one another in the advancement of projects, each reinforcing one another’s weak points. For Tellico Dam, connected members of congress supported the TVA, which was supported by private construction companies. These three groups can mobilize money, media, and attack dogs that a grass roots organization can’t hope to oppose. In the case of Tellico Dam, the Iron Triangle triumphed over a Supreme Court ruling, economic inviability, and a hostile president, leading to the dam’s completion in 1979.
THE BAD
The subject matter is depressing. But as a meat eater has an obligation to understand that his steak once belonged to a cow, I’d argue an American has an obligation to learn about the making of law. It’s ugly. And in Snail Darter, a totally awful project is built for the vanity of a few removed bureaucrats, over the protest and struggle of hundreds. But they wouldn’t have succeeded if more people had cared when it mattered.
OVERALL
Snail Darter peeks inside government and bureaucracy. It shows what happens when media fails to be the fourth estate. 40 years later, the snail darter controversy remains misunderstood.
Today, we hope the media will be vigilant and informative; we hope it will stand up to government apparatus if it abuses people. Snail Darter suggests a certain pessimism to that hope, but it also provides an instruction manual for how accountability can work. In Plater’s tale, grassroots organizations interacted with congress and tried to inform the media. Donations to organizations like the ACLU and SPLC have skyrocketed recently. That’s encouraging.
I’m not a law buff, but Snail Darter was engrossing. If you are American and have ever liked a nonfiction book, I recommend this one.
November 21, 2019
Though not particularly well-written, it is an interesting and educational story. The author is the one-time UT law professor who led a long legal fight against the TVA, which (very famously) hinged on the Endangered Species Act. So two stars for his writing, but five stars (x 1,000,000) for his humanity
April 6, 2018
The muscle of a few noisy extremists and how a river was killed, although Zyggy fails to mention the burial place for the river. Maybe it was cremated.
August 11, 2026
I remember learning about this case in con law and being intrigued. This book was the twisty, by your boot straps, devastating story behind it.
The book is gripping and feels like an in depth episode of More Perfect podcast.
This is generally a good story but definitely a good read for those fascinated by civic involvement. You don’t need to be a lawyer to enjoy.
I wish the author would write a sequel / not sequel to this one based on Kelo v. city of new London. Feels like the perfect pairing. All in a captivatingly sad sort of way.
The book is gripping and feels like an in depth episode of More Perfect podcast.
This is generally a good story but definitely a good read for those fascinated by civic involvement. You don’t need to be a lawyer to enjoy.
I wish the author would write a sequel / not sequel to this one based on Kelo v. city of new London. Feels like the perfect pairing. All in a captivatingly sad sort of way.
July 14, 2014
As a journalist, I found this book a fascinating look at the process of how legislation gets made or killed. It isn't surprising, perhaps, the degree to which politicking is a fine art that supercedes the substance of legislation, but this is a perfect -- and often hilarious -- illustration of that. I especially loved the bit about how Al Gore tried to lie to his constituents about his willingness to help protect the Little Tennessee River, but failed to back out in time to foil them. Of course, ultimately the effort to save the river from damming failed. Living as I do quite near the Little T, I think it's a shame that their idea of having a historical trail along it, with its high-quality trout fishing and amazing Native American/prehistoric settlement history, was not preserved. The book takes you through years and years of the bureaucratic process saving the river repeatedly, even at times when dam proponents made the decision, because the actual economic benefits of the project were close to nil. And yet it was still dammed, basically by pork, inertia, and bad press. The author was one of the attorneys involved and knew all the behind-the-scenes details firsthand (he donated basically years of his life, spending 3 to 5 days a week in Washington while teaching back in TN the other days, to represent local residents against the dam). He does a lot of bashing reporters for being lazy or being mysteriously blocked by their editors from writing about the issue.
As a reporter, I've heard lots of conspiracy theories over the years from people who don't agree with my coverage or think I'm not writing a story because my "overlords" are preventing it. At least in the years I've been a reporter, that's not actually been the case; upper management, high-level editors and the editorial page folks don't know or care what I write about ahead of time. However, I don't know for sure what happened back then, and it does seem almost implausible the number of major news outlets that actually did the full reporting for stories and then never ran them.
After a certain point the inevitable march toward failure became depressing and made the reading a little slower, but overall the engaging writing style of this attorney (shocking in itself!) and the fascinating ins and outs of the process read like solving a puzzle or detective story. And I especially liked the portion dealing with the play-by-play of arguing the Supreme Court case. One of the justices actually wrote about the scene in his own book and I've been meaning to read it from his point of view. (Again, the Supreme Court is not just about deciding pure law based purely on ideas; it's a bunch of HUMANS making deals with one another, with not only this case in mind but the case law they each might want to create, and even choosing to side with the opposing "team" so you can water down the opinion, etc.)
I think this is a book every reporter should read, not just those interested in environmental issues. Even the author admits that the prime issue at play was really the conflict between TVA/pork barrel spending and the farmers who lived on the river. When I see now the mansions on the lake created by this project -- every one of them on land for which farmers were barely compensated -- it's just disgusting. (From the get-go, between 2/3 and 3/4 of the land TVA acquired for the lake was actually land that would not be submerged, because they wanted it for "economic development." So even farmers whose homes and most of their farmland were above the new water line had to clear out.)
As a reporter, I've heard lots of conspiracy theories over the years from people who don't agree with my coverage or think I'm not writing a story because my "overlords" are preventing it. At least in the years I've been a reporter, that's not actually been the case; upper management, high-level editors and the editorial page folks don't know or care what I write about ahead of time. However, I don't know for sure what happened back then, and it does seem almost implausible the number of major news outlets that actually did the full reporting for stories and then never ran them.
After a certain point the inevitable march toward failure became depressing and made the reading a little slower, but overall the engaging writing style of this attorney (shocking in itself!) and the fascinating ins and outs of the process read like solving a puzzle or detective story. And I especially liked the portion dealing with the play-by-play of arguing the Supreme Court case. One of the justices actually wrote about the scene in his own book and I've been meaning to read it from his point of view. (Again, the Supreme Court is not just about deciding pure law based purely on ideas; it's a bunch of HUMANS making deals with one another, with not only this case in mind but the case law they each might want to create, and even choosing to side with the opposing "team" so you can water down the opinion, etc.)
I think this is a book every reporter should read, not just those interested in environmental issues. Even the author admits that the prime issue at play was really the conflict between TVA/pork barrel spending and the farmers who lived on the river. When I see now the mansions on the lake created by this project -- every one of them on land for which farmers were barely compensated -- it's just disgusting. (From the get-go, between 2/3 and 3/4 of the land TVA acquired for the lake was actually land that would not be submerged, because they wanted it for "economic development." So even farmers whose homes and most of their farmland were above the new water line had to clear out.)
September 3, 2019
Epic environmental law book. So sad about the little T and the darter
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews