The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value.

- Theodore Roosevelt

On March 20th, attorneys for Utahns for Better Transportation, Mayor Rocky Anderson and the Sierra Club argued their case against the Legacy Highway project before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.

The principle points of that argument were that the federal and state agencies supporting and approving the Legacy Highway project violated federal environmental laws including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Federal Transportation Act.

On March 20th, the first day of spring, highway opponents continued to exercise their constitutional rights to enforce federal environmental laws by using judicial procedures before neutral federal judges.This constitutional right is a provision of our democratically-elected United States Congress and signed into law by democratically-elected United States Presidents. And exercising those rights felt good.

Throughout this long and arduous process, those of us opposed to the highway have valued the environmental laws that were created by Congress in the 1970s as tools to pursue the principles of the Public Trust Doctrine. The Public Trust Doctrine is the legal foundation for citizens' right to clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. When those life sustaining values are jeopardized, it is our collective responsibility to participate in the legal process to whatever level necessary for redress of these public trust violations.

And as we look ahead to the future of this campaign, we all realize that winning the lawsuit on appeal is only a part of the whole. The sustained commitment to protect the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem, and to preserve the quality of life for future generations should be underpinned by the Public Trust Doctrine.

The first Earth Day in 1970 was a catalyst for congressional environmental action through a series of laws.

• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (1970)
• Clean Air Act (1970)
• Clean Water Act (1972)
• Coastal Zone Management Act (1972)
• Endangered Species Act (1973)
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1973)
• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (1975)
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
• Toxic Substance Control Act (1977)
• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund)(1980)

Although these laws are on the books, they aren't always enforced. That part is often left to us.

Yours in saline,

- Lynn de Freitas