Tellico Dam Case:
The snail darter was declared an endangered species in 1975.
There have been several cases that had reached the Supreme Court, one being the Tellico Dam project. This project was initiated before the ESA was enacted in 1973, but was brought to a halt when the Secretary of Interior, Roger C. B. Morton, declared a snail darter to be endangered. A snail darter is a small rare fish that feeds off of primarily aquatic snails. This creature’s habitat was known to be apart of the Little Tennessee River and was to be inundated by the reservoir of the dam. This destructive project brought awareness to many individuals and organizations that fought for the life of animals. Congress demanded that the project be completed because $53 million had already been spent on the tools needed. President Carter agreed with this decision and decided not to veto the bill. (Albrecht) Many authorities supported President Carter’s idea because in the Washington Post on July 18, 1978 it stated, “the Senate beats back against to seriously weaken the ESA… permitting the completion of a Federal project to outweigh the continued existence of a species.” (Mohr) This decision enraged various environmental groups and they reacted to the decision in Tennessee with protests. They understood that something needed to be done to improve the amendment and prevent Federal officials from destroying the habitat of species. These authority figures had their mind set on finishing this project, and the public was going to have to fight really hard against the government to prove that their point was also significant. This shows the public reacting on the snail darter’s behalf and wanting a reform to establish from this situation. The public's reactions were shown through cartoons, letters, and protesting.