Is that it will make amoral scumbags a LOT of money;

“There’s nothing that’s going to drive Exelon’s profit in the next couple of years wildly. It just isn’t going to happen.”

Except, of course, carbon legislation. And because of that, the company views spending on lobbying for legislation almost like a capital expense. William Von Hoene, a cowboy-boot-wearing former criminal defender who heads the finance and legal departments for Exelon and is a possible successor to Rowe, thinks of carbon legislation as Exelon’s big growth opportunity. “It’s an investment we are making that will result in substantial shareholder value,” he says.”

NICE. You can’t make money in an already completely regulated quasi-monopoly, so what do you, as an executive of low ethical stature do? You lobby the feds to put your competitors at your mercy, and out of business;

“Exelon also invented a scheme (included in the House bill) that softens the financial blow to ratepayers by giving the utility industry’s portion of free emission allowances to electricity retailers instead of generators. State public utilities commissions would then ensure that the retailers pass on savings from the sale of those allowances (electricity retailers aren’t emitters) to their customers. Exelon’s retail subsidiaries, ComEd and Peco, would get allowances, but Exelon’s power generation subsidiary wouldn’t get any. Exelon would still benefit, though indirectly. Competitors with big fossil fuel fleets would have to raise electricity prices to cover the cost of emissions permits. Exelon would benefit from higher power prices without having to buy permits.”

Also, NICE. Note the plausible deniability – electricity retailers are not “emitters” – and self-dealing that they put into the bill too – that’s a great big light-up bonus!

And exactly how does such a transparently corrupt, mercantilistic scheme get anywhere near being passed into law? Well, it helps to have friends;

“Exelon has very deep ties to the Obama Administration. Frank M. Clark, who runs ComEd, helped advise Obama before he ran for President and is one of Obama’s largest fundraisers. Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, worked as a consultant to Exelon. Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, helped create Exelon. Emanuel was hired by Rowe to help broker the $8.2 billion deal between Unicom and Peco when Emanuel was at the investment bank Wasserstein Perella (now Dresdner Kleinwort). In his two-year career there Emanuel earned $16.2 million, according to congressional disclosures. His biggest deal was the Exelon merger.

Emanuel e-mailed Rowe on the eve of the House vote on global warming legislation and asked that he reach out to some uncommitted Democrats. “We are proud to be the President’s utility,” says Elizabeth Moler, Exelon’s chief lobbyist. “It’s nice for John to be able to go to the White House and they know his name.”"

Like we said about Dianne Feinstein, they don’t even bother to hide it anymore.

(MUSE was a loose coalition of musicians who opposed nuclear power and did a series of concerts in late 1979, later released as a movie. The movie ended with a singalong, as did the movement. Strangely, many of the name musicians who lent their names, personas, and time to the cause now in fact support many of the people and policies above. Huh.)

(photo from legal planet)