Unless there is something on the walls at the Flamingo that we should know about, it was good to go to Las Vegas over the weekend and get away from lead paint.

So when I returned to work and discovered I was hopelessly behind everyone who had already written about Rhode Island AG Patrick Lynch's lead paint abatement plan, I decided to read the whole thing and come up with something new.

But did you see the size of that thing?

It was 134 pages thick and chronicles the $2.4 billion cleanup for which three paint companies are responsible. Former Iowa AG and paint spokesperson Bonnie Campbell says Sherwin-Williams, Millennium Holdings and NL Industries will not begin until the appeal is decided.

So why did Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein order this planning? After instructing the jury to find the companies liable during trial, it's clear he wants this stuff cleaned up as soon as possible. Should the Supreme Court affirm the ruling, it will be good that the planning is already complete.

But what if the Court doesn't? What a colossal waste of time and money. One can only imagine how much effort goes into a 134-page abatement plan.

The writing, the advising, the research. It all might be for nothing, if Rhode Island's highest court stays consistent with the three supreme courts that have let the companies off the hook.

Judge Silverstein should have taken that into account. Sure, he's exerting his control over the lawsuit, but he failed to consider the financial consequences. Rhode Island taxpayers won't get their money back if the abatement plan is scrapped.