Page 14-Thursday, July 6, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) - A showdown
is nearing in Congress over legislation
that made the tiny snail darter a
household name.
Ironically, the outcome may not have
a direct impact on the celebrated fish,
or even on the controversial $120
million Tellico dam and reservoir
project it helped block.
BUT WHAT Congress decides when it
debates the Endangered Species Act
this summer is likely to make a big dif-
ference on any future Tellico-like con-
troversies that arise.
Both houses of Congress are expected
to vote'in coming weeks to extend the
life of the act, which expires later this
year.
Changes in the law have been
proposed in both houses, and even the
measure's strongest supporters con-
cede some change appears inevitable,
largely because of the snail darter case.
IT APPEARS almost certain, for
to debate snail darter dilemma
example, that the Senate will approve a
change establishing a new government
panel that could allow a project to con-
tinue if its benefits "clearly outweigh"
the value of the threatened species.
"We have enough votes to carry
that," said one aide, who asked not to
be identified. Some environmental
groups say they won't oppose it,
although they would prefer to see it
defeated.
A similar proposal is pending in the
House.
THE ENDANGERED Species Act,
passed in 1973, prohibits completion of
any federal project that threatens an
endangered animal or plant species or
its critical habitat.
While hundreds of projects have been
built since then, with disputes over the
law settled through negotiations, the
most celebreated case involved one
that wasn't completed - the Tennessee
Valley Authority's Tellico Project on
the Little Tennessee River. The
Court refuses to
delay Nazi ral
CHICAGO (AP)-A federal appeals order that allowed the Nazis to march.
court refused yesterday to temporarily In that ruling he said the park district's
delay a demonstration planned for a $60,000 insurance requirement im-
city park by a Nazi group. Lawyers for pinged on the Nazi's First Amendment
the city said they would appeal the mat- rights to free speech.
ter to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. AFTER LEIGHTON'S initial ruling,
Circuit Court of Appeals voted Nazi leader Frank Collin called off a
unanimously to deny a request by the march he had planned for the heavily
Chicago Park District to stay the rally, Jewish suburb of Skokie, saying he has
which is set for Sunday in Marquette used the threat of the Skokie march asa
Park on Chicago's Southwest Side, an lever to get the right to demonstrate in
area of racial tension. Marquette Park. The planned Skokie
THE PARK DISTRICT asked the ap- march had drawn national attention
pellate panel to delay the rally until the and threats of violence by militant
court was able to rule on the merits of Jews.
the district's appeal of a U.S. District The Nazis later demonstrated in
Court order permitting the march. The downtown Chicago, where hundreds of
appeals court has yet to rule on the sub- policemen protected them from angry
stance of the case. counterdemonstrators, who hurled
.James Sneider, a partner in the fim rocks and eggs.
handling the case for the park district, A written opinion on the appeals
said a petition appealing the ruling to judges' action was not available. A
the U.S. Supreme Court-probably would park district spokesman said the
be filed tomorrow. decision was reached in late afternoon
U.S. District Judge George Leighton behind closed doors and that both sides
last Thursday denied the district's were informed of the matter by
initial request for a stay of his June 20 telephone.
Supreme Court ruled that the dam's
floodgates can't be closed because to do
so would wipe out the snail darter's
habitat and violate the law.
TVA and the Interior Department are
studying alternatives. The General Ac-
counting Office has been asked to con-
duct a similar study. And, TVA Chair-
man S. David Freeman has said that,
environmental concerns aside, it may
be more economical to redesign the
project.
AS A RESULT, environmentalists
and congressional aides say Tellico's
future may not be decided in Congress.
Meanwhile, environmental groups
and the Carter administration publicly
oppose'any change in the act.
"We don't feel ... that any need for
an amendment has been demon-
strated," said Michael Bean of the En-
vironmental Defense Fund.
THE CHANGE most likely to pass is
sponsored by Sens. John Culver, (D-
Iowa), and Senate Minority Leader
Howard Baker, (R-Tenn.). It calls for a
seven-member federal commission
with authority to grant exemptions
from the law.
Five of the seven members would
have to approve an exemption, and
such a vote could be taken only if the
Kelley sal
must meet
(Continued fromPage 1)
triples, but an additional 500 spaces
have been opened up by conversions in
recent years.
REP. H. LYNN Jondahl (D-East
Lansing), whose district includes MSU,
said a legal test of the issue will likely
occur.
In his opinion, Kelley said dorms are
not specifically mentioned in the
housing code, but noted the definition of
"class B" multiple dwellings fits dorms
and said other government facilities
are covered.
"By including structures such as
jails, asylums and hospitals within the
definition of a 'class B' multiple
conflict could not otherwise be resolved
and if the value of the project "clearly
outweighs" the benefits of conserving
the species. Several officials believe the
Tellico project could not be completed
under those standards.
"I do not anticipate a floor fight in the
Senate floor. I would urge against a
floor fight because we'd lose," said
John Burdick, a spokesman for the
Citizens Committee on Natural Resour-
ces.
But Burdick and other environmental
spokesmen say they will fight-proposals
they believe would weaken the bill fur-
ther. These include a proposal by Sen.
John Stennis, (D-Miss.), that would
allow any project to be completed as
long as it was "under way" when the
original law was passed in 1973.
Opponents say Stennis wants to make
sure the Tennessee-Tombigbee Water-
way project, a $1.8 billion, 253-mile
barge canal linking the Tennessee
River system with the Gulf of Mexico,
is safe from attack. Part of the project
is in Mississippi.
While there are no known en-
dangered species threatened by the'
project, there are species in its path
- that are under consideration for listing
as endangered.
ys dorms
state code
dwelling, the legislature indicated its
intent to subject governmental entities,
including the state, to the provisions of
the housing code," Kelley said.
"ALTHOUGH college- dormitories
are not specifically mentioned in the
list of multiple dwellings subject to the
act, the term 'all other dwellings
similarly occupied, whether
specifically enumerated herein or not'
must be held to indicate legislative in-
tent to include college dormitories
within this class," he said.
The code requires that rooms in class
B dwellings have at least 500 cubic feet
of space for each occupant.
Local feminists ready
for ERA march Sunday
(Continued from Page 7)
"I think the rally itself is not going to
do a lot to affect the votes," said
Washtenaw NOW chapter president
Harriet Behm. She said she thinks the
ERA lobbying session, scheduled for
Monday, will be more effective in
reaching lawmakers. Local NOW
members have an appoitment to meet-
with Rep. Carl Pursell (R-Ann Arbor)
during the lobbying session.
"Everybody's going to wear white,
and we are just going to pounce on the
capitol,"Behm said. Participants have
been asked to wear white in a sort of
reconstruction of the 19th and early 20th
century women's suffrage marches,
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Dr. Paul C. Uslan
and NOW will complete the effect by
providing traditional purple, white and
gold sashes.
"IT WILL BE an expression of
peoples' opinions," said Alice Lloyd
employee Tom Whittaker. "It's nothing
more than a media event, but that
seems to be the way to get things done
these days."
"I'm a feminist from way back,"
Whittaker continued. "I have been
waiting with baited breath for this thing
to come along, and it's finally down to
the wire."
Local NOW member Madge Patter-
son said she feels Sunday's demon-
stration is "very important." She
stressed the fact that anti-feminists are
"working so hard" to keep the ERA
from being ratified, and said she
believes feminists must "get out and
make an equal showing and work just
as hard" to counteract that.
NOW's Washtenaw chapter has been'
urging parents to take their children to
Washington, and although women wil
constitute the majority of marchers,
quite a few local men planrto attend.