Environmental Defense Fund v. Tennessee Valley Auth.

• Decision Date: 11 January 1972
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 7720.
• Citation: 339 F. Supp. 806
• Parties: ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND et al., v. TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY, Aubrey J. Wagner, Chairman, Tennessee Valley Authority.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Tennessee

339 F. Supp. 806

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND et al., v. TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY, Aubrey J. Wagner, Chairman, Tennessee Valley Authority.

Civ. A. No. 7720.

United States District Court, E. D. Tennessee, N. D.

January 11, 1972.

Jon T. Brown, Wallace L. Duncan, Washington, D. C., Lawrence R. Reno, Reno & Judd, Denver, Colo., Edward Lee Rogers, East Setauket, N. Y., Julian D. Butler, Butler & Potter, Huntsville, Ala., for plaintiffs.

Robert H. Marquis, Beauchamp E. Brogan, Justin M. Schwamm, Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tenn., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM

ROBERT L. TAYLOR, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, Environmental Defense Fund, Trout Unlimited, Association for the Preservation of the Little T and Thomas Burel Moser, seek a preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants and all their agents and servants and all persons in active concert and participation with them from further construction work on the Tellico Project of the Little Tennessee River, including construction of dams and other earth works, construction of the causeway to Ft. Loudon, relocation of Citico Road and all other construction and activities which will alter the natural environment of the project area. Evidence was received in support of and in opposition on January 7 and 10, 1972. At the conclusion of the evidence and argument of counsel, the Court advised counsel of its views but would withhold final decision until a later date.

It is considered appropriate to make a detailed statement of the background of the litigation, including specific findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Findings of Fact

Defendants are a wholly-owned corporation of the United States and the Chairman of its Board of Directors. 16 U.S.C. § 831 et seq. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is engaged in construction of the Tellico Dam and Reservoir Project on the Little Tennessee River in Blount, Loudon and Monroe Counties, Tennessee. The project is an integrated plan for the economic development of that three-county area.

Plaintiffs are three non-profit organizations and an individual landowner of Monroe County, who are attempting to preserve the lower thirty-three miles, free-flowing stretch of the Little Tennessee River as it exists in its present, natural state. This stretch is acknowledged to be the largest and best trout fishing water east of the Mississippi River. On the south bank of the Little Tennessee is Fort Loudon, built in 1756, as England's southwestern outpost in the French and Indian War. The river bottomlands also contain several village sites of the Cherokee Indian Nation that have considerable archeological significance. They include Chota, the ancient capital of the Cherokees, Tuskeegee, the birthplace of Sequoyah, and Tenassee, from which Tennessee derives its name. These archeological stores are virtually untapped. The free-flowing river is the likely habitat of one or more of seven rare or endangered fish species. The winding, free-flowing lower Little Tennessee River lies in a picturesque, pastoral setting untouched by urban and industrial blight and pollution. The evidence shows that all of these benefits of the present Little Tennessee River Valley will be destroyed by impoundment of the river, which is scheduled for 1975, as will some of the most valuable and productive farm land in East Tennessee.

The fulcrum of the project is a concrete and earthfill dam near the mouth of the Little Tennessee River; a navigable canal connecting the proposed Tellico Reservoir with Ft. Loudon Reservoir on the main Tennessee River; and a nine-foot navigable channel extending thirty miles upriver to a point three miles downriver from the existing Chilhowee Dam (owned by the Aluminum Company of America). The project plan provides for TVA's acquisition of 38,000 acres, of which 16,500 acres of river bottomland will be inundated by the reservoir. (This includes 2100 acres in the present stream bed.) The remaining 21,500 acres will be devoted to industrial, commercial, residential and recreational developments. The project plan includes the creation of a new community of 50,000 people designed to demonstrate the latest concepts of a high quality urban environment.

Congress appropriated the first funds for construction of this project on October 15, 1966; and, the TVA Board authorized construction on November 8, 1966. Construction of the concrete portion of the dam commenced on March 7, 1967, and was completed on February 28, 1969. Construction of a four-lane steel span bridge with concrete decking to carry State Highway 411 over the proposed reservoir was begun approximately a year ago and has been completed. Approximately two-thirds of the land tracts for the overall project has been acquired. Twenty-nine million dollars of the estimated $69,000,000.00 cost of the project has been expended. In November, 1971, TVA began cutting a trench at the proposed location for the earthfill portion of the dam. The purpose of the trench is to reach the rock strata some thirty feet below ground level in order to seal the rock to prevent leakage from the reservoir. This work is continuing.

On June 27, 1969, TVA contracted with Monore County, Tennessee, to relocate some thirty miles of county roads that will be flooded by the reservoir. Execution of this project is proceeding and some five to eight miles have been completed. TVA is presently cutting and burning timber, removing ground cover and moving earth in constructing the Monroe County Road. The stretch of the proposed road now under construction consists of denuded land that will erode quickly unless promptly stabilized. In the wet winter season, seeding and strawing bare soil has a low success probability as a stabilization method. Consequently, the most effective stabilization method at this time of year is completion of the road on the denuded land.

On June 18, 1971, TVA filed with the Council on Environmental Quality a "draft" environmental impact statement concerning the Tellico project. Preparation of a final, detailed statement is under way and completion expected by February 1, 1972. Although comprehensive in scope, the draft statement's cost-benefit analysis consists almost entirely of unsupported conclusions. As a result, a non-expert reader is denied the opportunity to intelligently evaluate TVA's conclusions. In addition, it is impossible to determine the thoroughness of the research upon which TVA based the conclusions, or their relative merit. A lack of careful research and planning is suggested by two statements contained in the statement itself:

"While land use planning is far from complete, broad conclusions concerning the environmental impact ... can be made at the present time ..." (Emphasis added.)

p. 12

and

"... TVA will prepare one or more supplemental environmental statements, as appropriate, for Tellico land development when detailed proposals are completed."

p. 13

Since these statements concerned the long-range recreational, residential and industrial development of the area, they show a failure to consider the long-range environmental impact of the project on the area.

Plaintiffs introduced expert testimony showing scenic, recreational, archeological, and fish and wildlife losses threatened by impoundment which are not apparent from a reading of the draft statement. Defendants disputed the significance of these losses.

TVA concluded that the project's cost-benefit ratio would be 1:3.

The East Tennessee Development District is an organization with a staff of professional planners concerned with the economic development of a sixteen county area centered on Knoxville and including the Tellico project area. Its executive committee, in response to the draft statement, concluded that: "The costs and benefits of the Tellico Project and the river in its present state are essentially an equation..." "The project benefits versus losses are a toss up at this time. . . Much of the project's success hangs tenuously on the follow-through of many other agencies and units of government, ..." Some of their specific criticisms of the project were stated as follows:

"... Urbanization and industrial development will be accelerated in an area not now equipped to handle it in utilities and other services: other areas as well situated and better equipped for new town development and large scale industrialization are available on the main stream of the Tennessee River. There are real hazards in shifts in the earth's structure from the location of the reservoir on known earth faults. Power and flood control benefits are acknowledged as negligible."

TVA's draft statement does not deal with these objections. In particular, there is no mention of the increased danger of earthquakes due to the location of the reservoir.

The East Tennessee Development District's comments are of particular significance because its function is to foster economic growth rather than wilderness preservation.

After several months' study of the draft statement by several agencies of the State of Tennessee and the staff of Governor Winfield Dunn, on December 7, 1971, Governor Dunn wrote Mr. Wagner, Chairman of TVA's Board of Directors, and stated his conclusion "that the interests of the State would be best served if TVA were to discontinue plans to impound the Little Tennessee River." In his judgment the present scenic, recreational, historical and archeological attributes of the project area are "too valuable for the State of Tennessee to sacrifice."

Mr. Wagner's seven page reply to Governor Dunn is almost totally devoted to the economic benefits which TVA anticipates from the project. Thus, it is evident that there is a high level controversy concerning the merits of the project. The issue between the parties appears to be whether the people of Tennessee, and of the United States, consider economic development or preservation of the natural environment to be more important.

It would cost TVA $50,000.00 to halt work...