“Power companies, oil companies etc. love environmentalists.”
Lewis, you have an interesting viewpoint, and I happen to agree with it! I operate a Public Utility. A water company. Our profits are fixed by the Public Utilities Commission as a percentage. Right now it’s about 12%. But, to make things easy, lets say,,, around 10%. So, if it costs us $90 to produce and deliver a certain amount of water, we can charge about $100 for it. $10 profit. If the government and the epa (I hate them!) increase our costs through regulation to the point that that same “certain amount of water” costs us $180 to produce and deliver, well, at 10%, our profits are now about $20! They can even make a percentage cut, and we still make out like bandits!
Now you have increased supply, reduced usage/production and increased profit.
It's no secret (at least not to me) that it's a business model.
Don’t regulators attempt to hold ROI (return on investment) fixed, not profit margins? I knew a guy who, in a previous life, had been an FCC regulator who worked the AT&T account. He admits that they were never sure what a rotary dial handset cost Western Electric, so they could never be sure how much to allow the phone company to rent it to you.