No one is history has ever built a pipeline before doing the drilling. It cost money and you need to the drilling to justify the pipeline both economically and regulatory. Your trash analogy does not fit the situation.
Just because historically, we've been a bit stupid, doesn't mean we should continue to be.
I think the analogy fits.
If there is not proven money to support infrastructure, then it won't be built, and to prove it with oil, requires pumping. People who build the infrastructure first in some grand plan fail at a pretty high rate (see the history of the USSR and some MN small towns that thought they would be bigger).