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Comment by estearum | Hacker News Reader

But... you're commenting on an article in which we are stopping the "we are building" part?

Who is "we" here?

This is about one company bending the knee, not an entire industry or population.

"We" is referring to the US federal government, elected by the US population, and which has (and is using) massive levers to kneecap development of renewable energy sources.

Some internet commentators may wish to unhelpfully point out that no matter the US federal efforts, renewable development will always be above literal zero, and so "we haven't stopped." But it's not a very useful contribution to the conversation.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/stalled-us-permits-...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-26/us-renewa...

There are dozens of similar articles about dozens of different projects and mechanisms used to stall those projects. Yes, I concede the level will almost certainly remain above zero and so "we haven't stopped." Good-faith adults know what the conversation is about and can either engage in it or opt out of it instead of resorting to excessive pedantry.

I want to know whether Trump has legal authority to this money for this purpose. If it was money directed by Congress for clean energy, then no.

“who’s going to stop me?”

The courts, eventually-probably. What this does to the business environment and future endeavours regarding clean energy, however, is an exercise left to the reader

Yeah it's a good question, but unfortunately large infrastructure projects require a lot more than just formal legal protections of their funding and permitting.

If it takes just one retard at the top to disrupt a massive decades-long project, even in a way that eventually gets negated by a court, then ta-da, we just don't get any more big projects.

So we are not building solar and wind anywhere, any more?

I know this place has become a political cesspool like reddit, but I implore you to think a little beyond "Trump bad".

Addressed a whole day ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49209919

I implore you to think a little bit about what degree of political, policy, and economic stability is actually required for anyone to embark on decades-long, multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects, instead of resorting to "hurrr durrrr it's above zero amirite?"

Aloofness is not the sign of intelligence you wish it to be.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com