Do the math: Mere money in return for accepting nuclear waste is a bad deal. It's even worse if you get shortchanged. That's why Tooele County commissioners should make sure their citizens receive every penny owed. But they're failing in that most basic fiduciary responsibility after last week's decision to repeal an audit requirement for EnergySolutions Inc. Proceeds from a mitigation fee assessed on the annual revenue at the company's hazardous and nuclear waste dump at Clive provide millions of dollars a year for the county. The audit costs about $20,000. It's a small price for the county to pay to make sure the company gets it right.

What's in a name: Utah's state tree is the blue spruce, popularly known as the Colorado blue spruce. Some Utah school kids noticed that anomaly and have proposed that the Utah juniper supplant the spruce as the state tree. They argue that the tough, shrubby juniper grows in all 29 counties, and that Utah's native tribes made sandals from its stringy bark and other products from the tree. We like the idea, and as a corollary, we nominate the gin and tonic, or perhaps the martini, as the state cocktail. (Gin often is flavored by juniper berries.) How many other state trees can you drink?

Paying to play: For the first time ever, energy developers this year will have to send $4,000 along with their applications for drilling permits. The application fee seems to us to be a no-brainer; what is incredible is that no fee has been collected before. It costs taxpayers $25.5 million each year just to process the permits. Considering the huge profits big oil companies have amassed recently, we are confident they can afford it. The burden for small companies is one they will just have to bear - and should have been bearing all along.