Written in 1983 for the National Conference on Public Administration in New York, Stephen Rechichar and Michael Fitzgerald's paper, "The Big Dam and the Little Fish: TVA's Tellico Dream in an Era of Intragovernmental Regulation," outlines the controversial construction of Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River between 1936 and 1979 by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Sources are taken from the Tennessee Valley Authority, local people and local officials, state and federal documents.

This TVA project was unique in that TVA planned to not only purchase the property affected by the impounded river but also the acreage directly connected to the new shoreline for industrial expansion and private commerce. The project was hindered by opposition from local fishermen, budget cuts, as well as litigation in district, circuit, and the Supreme Court. Main opposition came by the institution of the Endangered Species Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the discovery of a three-inch fish, the Snail Darter, or Persina (Imostoma) tanasi.

The combination of fiscal, political and environmental setbacks delayed work over 40 years and ended with the full scope of the dam never realized and the discovery of the endangered fish across Tennessee.