Builders of solar power plants fear that a government decision to halt applications to use federal lands as it weighs environmental consequences could harm an industry still in its infancy. "It's simply not sending the right message to the American public that they (the U.S. government) are committed to getting solar off the ground," Holly Gordon, vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs at Palo Alto's Ausra, said of the government's 22-month moratorium on new land claims.