The arrogance of assumption! Excelaron invests some money in looking for oil in Huasna Valley without bothering to sort out what would happen if it did find drillable amounts, which seems to have been a bit short-sighted on the company’s part. A proper business plan takes a longterm outlook, and you get, or make sure you can get, all the permits necessary before investing.

Now Excelaron wants $6.2 billion because of the county’s “regulatory taking of (its) property” — absolute balderdash. That is the equivalent of my buying a piece of oceanfront property and then being denied the right to build a 200-room hotel; I should have checked into that before buying the land.