3 ms·

The loss of trust in the finality of approvals is the key thing we should be shedding tears over. It would obviously have been far better not to permit it in th

The loss of trust in the finality of approvals is the key thing we should be shedding tears over. It would obviously have been far better not to permit it in the first place. Suppose a big offshore wind project gets underway now and an opposing government wins the next election - now there's precedent to just pull the plug. Or at a much smaller scale, suppose you've just won permission to build a house and a new city council is elected and revokes your permit. How much are you going to trust your government after that? It also widens the door for more forms of corruption. "Shame if that permit were to suddenly evaporate..." If you don't want carbon emissions, tax them to death. Or don't permit projects that produce them. But don't revoke permits of projects you've approved!

mschuster91 5y ago
> If you don't want carbon emissions, tax them to death. Or don't permit projects that produce them. But don't revoke permits of projects you've approved! The thing is: circumstances change, science evolves as new data is discovered. Permits are a human concept, humans can choose to modify and revoke them - but (absent someone inventing 23rd century Starfleet technology) humanity cannot reasonably stop climate change - we're past that point anyway and only doing damage control. Our grandchildren will curse us all for the "but they had a permit!!!" attitude - no matter if it's about climate change or Nestle and almond farmers bleeding water supplies dry!