I wasn't referring to Apache, specifically, just the Texas-based oil industry, in general. The fact Texas-based oil companies are very actively exploiting in, it seems, any other state but Texas has been used to bolster the belief in Texan oil hoarding. Added to the hoarding is the heavy expenditure by those companies to lobby against any of the other states levying fees anywhere near those levied in Texas; California was only one example...
(BTW: The main reason I know as much as I do about the CA situation is I worked on the anti-fee increase project for a CA GOP consultant firm; very eye-opening, in may ways...)...
True, there will always be a need for oil products, but, as car mileage performance goes up, alternate fuels are developed (hydrogen is most likely to be the next big push), and US consumer taste and awareness of environmental issues increase, the market for oil products as it stands now will be radically changed. Added to the mix is the growing recycling industry; if a previously manufactured petroleum product can be easily recycled, the market for the manufacture of items made from oil will reduce. Where before oil products, and many other products, were seen as fully disposable, the trend is to recycle and reuse rather than continue building up bigger landfills...
<O>
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