Somebody wrote:

So you blame oil companies for not drilling or building refineries?

10 years ago, the VP of sales of one of my principles commented to me,
"Lew, we will never see another grass roots refinery built in our
lifetime".

This from a guy who had spent his career in and around the "oil
patch".

I agreed.

Today, if you decide you want to build a refinery in some location, it
will take 20 years to overcome the neighborhood objections and the
environmental impact studies, before you can start construction.

The refinery at Gaviotta, CA stood complete but not commissioned for
about 5 years before some smart young oil company attorney figured out
it was less expensive to fight in court than it was to let the
refinery stand idle, so the law suits be damned, they started the
refinery.

As far as I know, the lawsuits went away.

Lew