The snail darter, the bald eagle and the Endangered Species Act offer perfect examples. Science, given even just half a chance, can save us from ourselves - if we're careful to stir in morally right motives. The Biden administration in June announced plans to reverse the Trump policies. Instead, DDT - eventually found to be a probable human carcinogen and reproductive toxin - was discontinued in the United States. Along the way, more of us might have succumbed to cancer and/or seen our children harmed by birth defects. Not only would the eagle likely be extinct, but many other birds whose eggshells were weakened by the chemical would be, too. Think of it this way: Had the chemical and pesticide industry had its way, DDT would still be in widespread use on farms and orchards. In effect, those rules, which changed the endangered species process in 30 ways, would have endangered the Endangered Species Act. Listening to lobbyists, loggers, ranchers and other business interests, the Trump administration shaved off long-standing protections and made rule changes requiring wildlife managers to take into account the economic cost to the industry or developer when deciding whether to protect a species. Only 11 species have since been declared extinct, having already pretty much died out when they were listed. On the other hand more than 99.2% of the species protected by the act survive. Republicans have long whined about the law, pointing to only a fraction of the more than 1,600 species declared imperiled that have made it off the list. Francis' satyr butterfly in North Carolina and 2019's hatch of Roti Island snake-necked turtles and Komodo dragons at the Chattanooga Zoo, among many other animals and plants. Today, despite some unsuccessful assaults by the former Trump administration to gut it, the nearly 50-year-old law can also be credited with saving the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon, the Tennessee purple coneflower, the Tennessee River's lake sturgeon, the American alligator, the humpback whale, the St. In short, the court made it clear the federal government had to protect imperiled plants and animals "whatever the cost." And the decision showed the American public - from federal dam developers to real estate developers, oil drillers, mall builders and others whose work affects threatened plants and animals - the power of the Endangered Species Act. The Supreme Court's 1978 ruling became the first interpretation of the new Endangered Species law. The little fish became for some an icon of species preservation, and for others a hateful symbol of the environmental movement's alleged "radical" excesses. Hill (as in Chattanooga attorney Hiram "Hank" Hill) made its way to the Supreme Court. With the darter's discovery that year in a soon-to-be flooded stretch of the Little Tennessee, construction stopped dead still on the then-$100 million dam that was 75% complete. Many, in fact, are expected to become extinct within decades as their habitats are destroyed and temperatures rise because of human-caused climate change.īut the darter's real bright place in history - all of which played out right here in our backyard - is the role it played in cementing the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
It prevailed.Most of the animals and plants now threatened won't have the public attention of the darter. It was fruitful, multiplied and survived! To borrow a line from that noted Mississippi fisherman, William Faulkner, the snail darter did not merely endure. The snail darter proved to be a feisty little creature.
You can’t bus a fish.Įnvironmentalists supported efforts to improve water flows and increase oxygen in hundreds of miles downstream from dams. TVA itself worked to transplant the snail darter from the Little Tennessee River to other rivers and streams. The project was completed but efforts to save the snail darter continued for years.
Led by Senator Howard Baker, Congress amended the Endangered Species Act to exempt certain federal projects, including the Tellico Dam. The snail darters had a big party in the Little Tennessee River. In a majority opinion written by Chief Justice Burger, the Court ruled that the Tellico Dam Project did violate the Endangered Species Act, and funding should stop. In 1978, in a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled in favor of the snail darter, or more accurately the law student plaintiff. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.