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Snail Darter Documents The nS ail Darter and the Dam
2-1-1978 Brief of Amicus Curiae, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Support of Respondents, TVA v. Hill, No. 76-1701 Ben Oshel Bridgers
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Digital Commons Citation Bridgers, Ben Oshel, "Brief of Amicus Curiae, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in Support of Respondents, TVA v. Hill, No. 76-1701 " (1978). Snail Darter Documents. Paper 38. http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/darter_materials/38
This Archival Material is brought to you for free and open access by the The nS ail Darter and the Dam at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Snail Darter Documents by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. In The SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER TERM, 1977
NO. 76-1701
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTI-IORITY, Petitioner, v.
HIRAM G. HILL, JR., ZYGMUNT J. B. PLATER , DONALD S. COHEN, THE AUDUIDN COUNCIL OF TENNESSEE, INC., THE ASSOCIA TION OF SOUTHEASTERN BIOLOGISTS, Respondents .
On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE, EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is a federally recognized Indian tribe, occ upying a reservation located in the mountains of western North Carolina. Prior to the Treaty of New Echota in 1835 and the cession of their remaining lands east of the Mississippi River, the Cherokees had resided in Tennessee along the Little Tennessee Valley, the site of the Tellico Dam, which is the subject of the present lawsuit.
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eligible for the Historic Register will be destroyed, in eluding all but three of the sites listed in the previous paragraph. Such destruction is important to the Cherokee people because this is the last valley available with such historical and archeological remnants available for study and preser vation. The Eastern Cherokees also note the arguments pro vided by the Petitioner and amici curi a e on behalf of t.he local governments within Monroe County, Tennes se e , that the economic realities of this case support their interpretation of the Endangered Species Act. However, the Cherokees believe that most of the people in the Little Tennessee Valley have no idea of the extent of the histori cal and cultural significance of this Valley. The loca l residents quite naturally fear only the economic conse quences portrayed to them by the Petitioners. The North Carolina Cherokee Reservation is located in the Smoky Mountains adjoining the Blue Ridge Parkway. The economy of the Tribe is heavily dependent upon the tourist industry and many members of t.h.e Tribe are actively engaged in businesses on the Reservation. During 1977 some 8 .6 million people came onto the Cheroke e Reser vation and spent approximately 20.5 million dollars in Cherokee. The success of the Chero kee people in the tourist industry is due to a number of factors, not the least of which are their ready access to the Parkway and being adjacent to a National Park which funnels tourists into Cherokee. Inasmuch as the Little Tennessee Valley contains some of the same geographical features, the Cherokees believe the potential for the economic development of the Little Tennessee Valley area is excellent. 4
Paralleling this litigation, the General Accounting Office conducted a study of the Tellico Project and issued a report in October 1977 . The GAO Report found that the project area has potentially valuable alternative de velopment options that have not been considered and the Report stated that tI[N]umerousalternate uses exist for the Little Tennessee River if the reservoir is not com- pleted. 4 Because the Little Tennessee valley is also adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Cherokee historical and archeological sites lie along the river in close pro xir ity, based on Cherokee 's own experience in the tourist industry under similar geographical conditions, they conc lude that the economic disaster portrayed by Peti tioner is inaccurate and misleading . Based on the altern tives discussed in the GAO Report , there is every rea SOl to believe the economy can grow in the Valley eve n if the Court denies the relief sought by Petitioners. In short, the scope of historic preservation and en dangered species could be dr amatically short-circuited by the legal position of t.1-tePetitioner. The Cherokee people are sensitive to the goal s of the Endang er ed Spec i Act since their own survival was a matter of serious cor cern in the last century. It is implicit from the enactment of the National Historic Preservation Act and tt'1e Endangered Species Act that cultural and biological patterns of the past have value and are worth remembering < Obviously they can
4 GAO Report: "The TVA's Tellico Dam Project - Costs, Alternati ' and Benefits." EMD - 77 - 58, Oct. 14, 1977 at p. 26 . 5 best be remembered by keeping them visible and intact. By standing on the shoulders of the past we can see more clearly into our future. For these reasons the Cherokee people ask the Court to enforce the Endangered Species Act and affirm the Sixth Circuit decision.
Respectfully submitted,
HOLT, HAIRE & BRIDGERS, P.A.
BY: Ben Oshel Bridgers P.O.Box248 Sylva, North Carolina 28779 704-586-2121 Attorney for Amicus Curiae