Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill et al.

The Tennessee Valley Authority started to build the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River. When the dam was nearly completed, the Secretary of the Interior determined that the snail darter apparently lived only in that portion of the Little Tennessee River that would be completely inundated by the impoundment of the reservoir created as a consequence of the completion of the Tellico Dam. He declared that area as the snail darter’s "critical habitat." Notwithstanding the near completion of the multimillion-dollar dam, the Secretary issued a regulation in which it was declared that "all Federal agencies must take such action as is necessary to ensure that actions authorized, funded, or carried out by them do not result in the destruction or modification of this critical habitat area." The respondents brought this suit to enjoin completion of the dam and impoundment of the reservoir, claiming that those actions would violate the Act by causing the snail darter’s extinction. The Supreme Court held that the Endangered Species Act of 1973 prohibited impoundment of the Little Tennessee River by the Tellico Dam. The language of the relevant section 7 was plain and made no exception such as that urged by the petitioner whereby the Act would not apply to a project like Tellico that was well under way when Congress passed the Act. It was clear from the Act’s legislative history that Congress intended to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction - whatever the cost. The Court of Appeals did not err in ordering that completion of the Tellico Dam, which would have violated the Act, be enjoined. Congress had spoken in the plainest words, making it clear that endangered species were to be accorded the highest priorities.