I like Michael Shellenberger when he explains the idiocy of California environmentalists. That is something he knows as he used to be a high ranking one himself.
I think he is bad at analyzing other industries and wrongly assumes everything has the same power dynamics and dysfunction as the environmentalist movement.
Unfortunately, corporate corruption of our government in this country is rampant, as is executed on behalf of major stockholders laundering tax-exempt "charitable foundation" money through successive layers of NGOs, many of which purport to care about the "environ-mint". That is one of the reasons for a limited government, one incapable of selling favors, many of which are now effected through environmental policy as a way of separating "winners" from "losers." I wrote a book about this process you can consider here. For specific examples and the legal principles involved, go here.