MIDLAND, Texas — The largest oil and gas refinery in Texas is owned by Saudi Aramco which is one of the leading oil companies in the world.
As a result, they have the ability to send more of their crude oil into the U.S. This means that their oil will be used before the oil produced here.
Some high school students see this as a problem.
About 10 students and parents were out on the corner of loop 250 and 191 in Midland trying to raise awareness about the effect that Saudi oil is having on their families' jobs and livelihood.
"Many of my friends, their families rely heavily on the Permian Basin in the oil industry to have a good life and have everything that they have and to be able to just live," Peyton Fotis, a Lee high school senior said.
Fotis, one of the main organizers of this rally, believes that younger people need to learn about the oil industry and how it impacts their lives.
"As a teenager, I feel that not many of us are educated on what the oil field actually does for economy not only in the Permian Basin but all over the nation and in Canada and Mexico. I bet many students don’t know that in your phone that we use every day there’s so many petroleum products," Fotis said.
Other high school students were also out at the rally today because they were wanting to make a change.
"You know not a lot of people our age are doing anything. They’re just watching their parents lose their jobs, and we wanted to do something about that and try to make a change," Karissa Flores, Midland High senior said.
This rally was only the first of many rallies in order to catch the attention of not only congressmen but also governors and even the President to try and make a change they deem necessary.
"We hope to get enough people involved eventually to start a petition to make a note to stop the Saudi oil from coming in, and we need to use it while we have it now from Canada, Mexico, and the United States," Flores said.
This group formed last night to start the fight on foreign oil and hopes that this rally and future rallies will spark enough interest to make this a national issue, not just a Permian Basin issue.