>>>>>http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=336263836904604
>>>>>
>>>>>Thursday marked the 150th anniversary of a seminal event in history: the birth of the oil industry. On that day in 1859, Edwin Drake struck black gold with the first commercial oil well — creating an industry that would provide the lifeblood for modern civilization.
>>>>>
>>>>>http://www.greentechhistory.com/2009/08/gallery-the-worlds-first-oil-field/
>>>>>http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/after-150-years-whither-oil/
>>>>>http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5715
>>>>>http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/08/17/its_still_the_one
>>>>
>>>>Let's hope when the 175th anniversary rolls around oil is mainly just a historical artifact.
>>>
>>>There are many uses for petroleum other than burning in IC engines. It would damage civilization to stop these uses by shutting down the oil industry.
>>
>>I wasn't suggesting that we shut it down.
>
>You can't make oil "mainly an historical artifact" without mainly shutting the industry down.

Maybe we mean different things by the same words. What I meant was make oil no longer needed, hence no need for an oil industry. I certainly did not mean shut it down whether there's still a need for it or not.