Synopses & Reviews
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 caseandmdash;known officially as
Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hillandmdash;tells the hidden story behind one of the nationandrsquo;s most significant environmental law battles.
The realities of the darterandrsquo;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 TVAandrsquo;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. Platerandrsquo;s gripping tale of citizens navigating the tangled corridors of national power stimulates important questions about our nationandrsquo;s governance, and at last sets the snail darterandrsquo;s record straight.
Review
andquot;
The Snail Darter and the Dam is an inspiring and informative American story of regular people fighting powerful special interests.and#160; It's about how the public interest lost out to big money and its political allies--and failures by the local and national press to report the story fairly, accurately, and in proper context.andquot;andmdash;Dan Rather, Anchor and Managing Editor of AXS TV
Review
andquot;TVA v. Hill is one of my favorite cases. This eminently readable account of the full history of the case is even more interesting than the story told in Warren Burgerandrsquo;s opinion for the Court (or my memory of the oral argument and the shifting positions of the Justices in my book, Five Chiefs). The authorandrsquo;s account of how President Carter rejected the andldquo;God Committeeandrsquo;sandrdquo; verdict about the darter is especially so.andquot;andmdash;Hon. Justice John Paul Stevens, Supreme Court of the United States [retired]
Review
"The inside story of a long and fascinating battleand#8212;legal, political, environmental, and personaland#8212; that became an icon of its era and remains instructive even today. Itand#8217;s a blueprint for community action, andand#8212;sadlyand#8212;a still-current roadmap of the way in which Washington works. The legal maneuverings are laid out with wonderful lucidity, but even more the book is by turn compassionate, angry, and intensely humane, and well worth reading.and#8221;and#8212;Jonathan Harr, author of A Civil Action
Review
andldquo;The story of the snail darter and the TVA is the Thermopylae in the history of Americaandrsquo;s conservation movement, and this book by Zygmunt Plater deserves to be the classic telling of it.andrdquo;andmdash;Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
Review
and#8220;. . . as compelling history of a controversy that shed light on the policy process and is fascinating in its own right.and#8221;and#8212;Choice
Review
and#8220;This is the inside story, laid out with wonderful lucidity, of a long and fascinating battle that became an icon of its era and remains instructive today.and#8221;and#8212;Jonathan Harr, author of A Civil Action
Review
and#8220;Plater . . . does a deft job of weaving together the legal framework and context for his fight against TVA, which he ended up winning before the Supreme Court in the landmark case TVA v. Hill. He employs a strict first-person, present-tense perspective that gives the book an engaging, memoiristic tone. [He] provides a wealth of detail that makes for compelling reading, and he has a knack for bringing drama to even the most technical court proceedings."and#8212;Clay Risen, Chapter 16
Review
Watch Professor Zygmunt Plater's presentation at the Animal Law Review Symposium at the Lewis and Clark Law School.
Synopsis
The untold story of a notorious environmental case and the citizen crusade that carried a little fish through Washington politics and the Supreme Court
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
In a narrative that dispels widespread misperceptions about the environmental battle against the TVAand#8217;s final dam project,and#160;a law professor and his students carry the notorious snail darter case through the corridors of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court.
About the Author
Zygmunt J. B. Plater is professor of law and director of the Land & Environmental Law Program at Boston College Law School. He chaired the State of Alaska Oil Spill Commission’s Legal Research Task Force, is lead author of an environmental law casebook, and has participated in numerous citizen environmental initiatives. He lives in Newton Highlands, MA.