Stacey/Ron Please help

[absinra]

By the end of the decade, The United States petroleum industry's cost of meeting environmental regulations is projected at ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum.

Can you please tell me why the opeing modifier is wrong in this sentence.

[RonPurewal]

By the end of the decade, The United States petroleum industry's cost of meeting environmental regulations is projected at ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum.

Can you please tell me why the opeing modifier is wrong in this sentence.

wow, there are all sorts of things wrong with that sentence.

the modifier isn't grammatically wrong, but it doesn't make sense in context.
specifically, when you use an opening modifier like that one, it should apply to the ACTION IN THE MAIN CLAUSE.
the problem here is that the MAIN VERB is "...is projected..."
according to the modifier, then, the PROJECTION will occur by the end of the decade.
that's not the intended meaning (the sentence is clearly meant to say that the projection is being made right now, but that the cost will be at level X by the end of the decade).