Snail darter controversy

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The snail darter controversy related to the discovery in 1973 of an endangered species during the construction of the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River; the dam project had been authorized and begun before passage of protective environmental legislation. On August 12, 1973, University of Tennessee biologist and professor David Etnier discovered the snail darter in the Little Tennessee River while doing research related to a lawsuit under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The lawsuit said that the Tellico Reservoir, to be created by Tellico Dam, would alter the habitat of the river to the point of killing off the endangered snail darter.

The NEPA lawsuits slowed the construction of the Tellico Dam but did not stop it. After the Supreme Court upheld protection under NEPA, Congress passed legislation specifically exempting the snail darter from protection; the dam project and inundation of the reservoir were completed in 1979.^[1]