Why didn’t the state just do the right thing?

This long running battle about a Duke Energy dam removal has centered on the choices of newspapers for notice. It is hard to understand why the state Division of Water Quality didn’t put notices in the newspapers in the area. It is great that the notices ran in a student paper (although a little puzzling), but why not do the maximum amount of notice and quell this part of the dispute? How much more did the legal fees cost the state than the simple cost of the right notices?

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/issues/11_08/11_05_08/fr_jackson_loses.html