You answered one of your own questions. Texas is strune with old oil fields and messes made by big oil. So why would we want Alaska to follow suit. Get real. The market is making billions of dollars in profits. That is minus any crazy salaries a corp can pay it's executives. So who's zoomin who here??? I guess at some point unless they are challenged sooner than later, big oil may need to be NATIONALIZED. You know like Russia, Venezuella etc. I'm game for it...