[azreal60]

This is kind of a multi facetted post. I am going to ask for answers to questions, but also comments on something that happened to me. On to the story.

Wisconsin peakers who read the wisconsin state journal will recall just a bit ago they ran an opinion piece on peak oil. I like many of you wrote back our opinions. I didn't as far as i know get published, which was fine, because my writing was done on the fly(I was busy) and i didn't have time to think it out well enough. What bothered me was this.

About 2 weeks after i sent my article in and confirmed who i was with a person from the journal calling me, i got the following 2 part letter. The first was a letter that seemed to be refering to my unpublished letter, the second a communication to the writer of the letter. It reads like this.

Letter written to me.
Mr Michael Heidenreich,
You obviously did absolutely no research before writing your recent letter to the WSJ dated October 12-2005. Enclosed find a letter from Brad Fellows of Suncor Energy explaining the real costs. You may note that the total cost of producing a barrel of crude with higher natural gas prices is still way below the $60 dollar per barrel of the open market cost at less than $20 per barrel. That's the total cost! Where did you ever get that rubbish that it was costing two barrels to get one barrel.
You must have been talking to some solar-wind power clowns. The sun only shines 12 hours per day and the wind only blows when it does. Any sharp sixth grader would know that those sources of energy are erratic and undependable.
Back in the 1938 era it was commonmn to see pictures in newspapers and magazines proudly showing manufacturing plants with smoke billowing from their stacks. Today they would be shut down as eyesores and polluters. The same will be done in the future with ugly unsightly wind turbine farms. They are an eyesore on nature.
I hope you are aware that oil is not extracted from an oil well without paying the cost of exploring for oil to begin with, at great cost. It does not just bubble up into a piping system but must be pumped out of the well at a considerable cost.
In the future take a little time to get some facts so you can avoid writing letters based on bar-room philosophy.

William Johansen
349 W. Grand Ave #203
Beloit WI 53511

All the grammar and spelling in that letter are reproduced faithfully.
What follows is the email he included, with the sent to address cut out.

From "bellows, brad" BBellows@suncor.com
sent oct 13,2005
subject FW:extraction costs?

I haven't seen the article you refer to, but their may be some confusion about operational process vs energy inputs.

First, from an operational process point of view, it takes about two metric tons of oil sands ore( a blend of bitumen, water and sand) to produce one barrel of clean bitumen-- the very heavy oil that is the building block of synthetic crude. After upgrading, that barrel of bitumen will yield about .8 barrels of light, refinery ready synthetic crude oil.

From an energy point of view, the inputs are variable depending on the processes used for recovery and upgrading. For Suncor's upgrading, we use about one-fourteenth of a barrel of oil equivalent( the last part was highlighted by Mr Johansen, evidently for my education) in natural gas to upgrade each barrel of bitumen to synthetic crude. Note that is does not include energy inputs for electricity and diesel in the mine, for example.

In terms of costs, Suncor's operating costs for mining and upgrading for the full year 2004 where about $US10 per barrel. If you factor in depreciation and the amortization of capital( and we are a capital intensive industry), suncor's costs for 2004 where about US$15( he highlighted this as well) While mosts of the costs are relatively stable and "steady state"circumstances, the cost of natural gas does have an impact. "Steady state" costs at today's natural gas prices would add about $2 to $3 dollars per barrel.

I hope this answers your questions.

Brad Bellows
Suncor energy Inc

That was it exactly, so now, my questions of this board.

First off, I didn't even see my letter get published, so how did this guy even know i wrote that letter?

Second off, if the address isn't included with the letters, just the town of orgin, how did that guy know my exact address when even the post office still has confusion sometimes?

Third off, is this against some policy of the newspapers? Cause if he's some employee of theirs, boy would i love to get his arrogant ass fired.

Fourth, what do you think of the two letters?

I'll post my comments later.

Oh, and does anyone have a copy of me even getting published? Cause i sure never saw it. Which was one of the main reasons this response so confused me. I mean, I never even saw my letter in the journal, and somehow this guy is responding to something i sure never sent to him.

[azreal60]

But that's the weird thing. As far as i can tell, I was NEVER published. This almost had to be a journal employee, or someone who got the letter from the journal. Because i read the next journal all that next week, and i saw the responses, and mine was not included. So how did he get it?

[rogerhb]

The time to worry is when you get letters saying your facts and wrong and you haven't even posted the letter yet.

[rogerhb]

...and here we get a great example of you responding to my post before I sent it!

[azreal60]

Yeah, I had wondered on that...

I really would like more imput on this. I want to know a few things.

Should i respond?

Should i investigate how my address made it's way to this wackos door?

Should i try to find out if i really got published? /cheer

The energy guy was interesting by the way, I almost want to totally ignore windfarm hater and go talk to him. He seems like he actually might be someone i could hold a reasoned discussion with.

[tdrive]

All journals have third-party contractors to sift through all incoming letters. This guy is one of them, he does not directly work for WSJ, and he is a somewhat subject matter expert on a low level, so he asked someone (PR) from Suncor for comments. If your letter is not accepted by WSJ he is supposed to tell you why. I will not comment however on the "expertness" of that person for apparent reasons.

As to the Suncor estimates, they are correct and their letter is very nice and professional. It costs one barrel of crude to produce two barrels, that is, out of 60 bucks about 20 are cost. In other words, for every three barrels, one is fed back into operations and two hit the market at 60 (actually it is more complex than that but this is good enough as a one-liner explanation).

Cool down, no conspiracy is involved, and no black helicopters.

Hope this clears the matter.

Cheers,

[bobcousins]

Well, I won't tell you my opinion of journalists, but it is in the same category as politicians and double glazing salesmen.

I guess there is an office junior who has the dull job of opening letters. If you mentioned Suncor in your letter, they may check with them to get a rebuttal or just to avoid being sued. Maybe the guy has shares in Suncor. Maybe he has a bug up his ass and likes to wind up people who write to the journal.

Either way, it is weird and unethical, but probably typical of the assholes who work in the media. [Oops, I let it slip ]

It is unfortunate that when you try to get across a serious message, you attract the attention of wackos, they are best ignored.

[azreal60]

See the really weird thing is, most of what he was so angry about i don't even think i put in my letter. I edited alot out for the final version, and i don't recall mentioning suncor, alternatives, or heck most all of his post.

The 2 to 1 ratio only includes actual energy costs, not systemic energy costs. If you have to include the electricity and the diesel in the mine, I bet it would be closer to being reversed.

Which is why the suncor guy got my respect. He at least reconized that i was probably talking about the energy for the whole job lot, not just what is produced via natural gas.

I didn't realize people got this worked up about defending something that as far as i can tell, wasn't that defensable. The only thing that i said that was at all insulting in my letter was an obvious correction of the anti peak oil opinion guy in the paper. He stated that their are millions of years of coal reserves left, i pointed at that at current usage rates its about 250 for the US.

Maybe i just don't understand, but man, that guy weirded me out.

[tdrive]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')aybe i just don't understand, but man, that guy weirded me out.

[retiredguy]

There are a number of different editions of the WSJ. Perhaps your letter was published in an edition you do not receive.

[Falconoffury]

The guy was defending oranges in a discussion about apples. He was just letting off steam about things that loosely relate to your argument.

[nero]

I suggest that you write to Brad Bellows who according to the Suncor site is their Media Relations guy and ask him if he wrote the copied letter and who exactly did he send it to.

Mr. Bellow's letter was very interesting and if verified you should copy it to one of the main oil sands threads.

Just my $0.02.

[bobaloo]

Could be worse. A while back a buddy of mine wrote a letter to the editor of a small local paper which was never published, but was sharply critical of the current administration in Washington. Nothing over the top, nothing threatening, just calling a scumbag a scumbag.

Couple weeks later a couple of guys in black suits from the FBI shows up at his door wanting to know why he hates America. Again, remember the letter was never published and there were no threats made, just criticism.

Oh, and BTW, he's a Viet Nam vet in a wheel chair from getting shot in the spine.

It's getting weird out there folks.

[NEOPO]

For some reason.... I believe..... bobaloo is not shitting you Pstarr

[Falconoffury]

I don't see how that is surprising. I've read about it on more than one occasion. There is even a case of the FBI talking to someone like that in the movie Fahrenheit 911.

[Specop_007]

I've always been of the idea that if you dont want replies, dont post responses.

Whether its unethical, illegal or scary isnt the point.
The point is you wrote a peice with an opinion, and then you get critical when you get responses? Did you bother to hand deliver it, or send it with no return address, or did you just think you could write your opinion send it in and have no feedback?

[azreal60]

I don't mind feed back. I even would have expected stuff like this. I just as far as i know wasn't even published. In any of the editions of the wisconsin state journal. I could have handled feedback thru the newspaper or on the internet. But some guy sending a letter like that to the home where my pregnant wife lives just gives a man the creepy feeling, ya know?

That, and i can't wait to go, Na Na nu Na NA!