Oh, the Springville Republican's companion bills HB100, HB259 and HB335 don't exactly say that. The proposals would simply place a new, very high, hurdle in the path of all those who would exercise their right to challenge such projects in court.

But it is a clear mathematical equation that making challenges to pollution harder makes pollution easier. And that's the last thing Utah's air, water and reputation need right now.

The means Tilton has chosen to grease the skids for polluters is a requirement that those filing the suit must post a bond to compensate the would-be builders for any money they lose due to the litigation-caused delays. Such costs would include squishily defined factors such as inflation and lost profits.

The operations that exist to watchdog and, often, legally challenge potential polluters regularly get under the skin of those who don't care what they put in your children's lungs as long as they fill their children's trust funds.

But those watchdog outfits already run on shoestring budgets, depending on the kindness of strangers. Making their good works more expensive in no way serves the public interest. It also stands against both the letter of various statutes and centuries of common law designed to allow people to defend themselves from harm.

Salt Lake and Davis counties already suffer through far too many days of stifling air pollution and no-burn days. Schools in Cache County have to put out flags to signal days when it is, or is not, safe for children to play outside. Utah is already fighting, at the highest levels of its government, plans to turn our state into a hazardous waste dump.

Tilton says the idea is to discourage "frivolous" lawsuits that cost the developers of power plants or hazardous waste facilities a lot of extra money while they wait for numerous appeals to be resolved, he assumes, in the builder's favor.

What he neglects to say is that all lawsuits are frivolous if you don't agree with their aim. But if you do see that some private project or state highway not only threatens the environment but does so in a way that violates the provisions of one of many laws intended to protect that same environment, then there is nothing frivolous about it.