I don't have to tell you guys about viral emails, I'm sure it's an art form you're all familiar with. I make it a point to do a "Reply All" to the ones I get, especially if I feel the are worthy of debunking, and especially if I know I can annoy or discredit the sender.

My brother often sends me amusing chain emails he or his wife receive (they both have an enormous correspondence). Many of them have a decided propaganda slant, and their origin and tone are so similar, as well as strident, that it is hard not to surmise they are deliberately cranked out by a structured organization with the express purpose of pushing a political agenda. I have reprinted one such letter below, and also have included after it a copy of my "Reply All". Fortunately, this malicious little gem was about an issue we had examined thoroughly here on the Zone, so I was well prepared to respond. It is pretty clear that the writer of this piece of agitprop was well-informed enough to realize just how misleading this letter is, and he certainly had access to the truth, but chose not to write it. He also counted on his readers not being likely to look up the sources he links to (sound familiar?). Of course, the text here does not reproduce the lurid fonts and colors of the original.

There were about a dozen names on the immediate address list, I hope they "Replied All" to their lists.

******************************Begin Chain Letter*****************************

The U. S. Geological Service issued a report in April ('08) that only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report (hadn't been updated since '95) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota, western South Dakota, and extreme eastern Montana .....check THIS out:

1.The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska'sPrudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels.. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.

'When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.9 D says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.

'This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years.' reports, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a formation known as the Williston Basin , but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' And it stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada. For years, U.S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves.... and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 41 years straight.

2. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should - because it's from TWO YEARS AGO!

U. S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World!
Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In t hree and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?

They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:

- 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
- 18-times as much oil as Iraq
- 21-times as much oil as Kuwait
- 22-times as much oil as Iran
- 500-times as much oil as Yemen
- and it's all right here in the Western United States .

HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy....WHY?

James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post.

Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think again! It's all about the competitiv e marketplace, it has to. Think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists?
Got your attention/ire up yet? Hope so! Now, while you're thinking about it .... and hopefully P.O'd, do this:

3. Pass this along. If you don't take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you want to complain about gas prices ... because by doing NOTHING, you've forfeited your right to complain.
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Now I just wonder what would happen in this country if every one of you sent this to every one in your address book.
By the way...this is all true. Check it out at the link below!!!
GOOGLE it or follow this link. It will blow your mind.

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911

********************************End Chain Letter***********************************

Begin my reply:

Sorry guys,

but you've got your facts just a little skewed. I'm familiar with this find, and the Bakken formation is definitely real. it is also has potentially very rich reserves, and has been known about for over half a century. Unfortunately, as in all oil fields, just because there is a lot of oil there doesn't mean it can all be reached. In fact, they are drilling and pumping all over it now, and have been for years, and production is pretty much maxed out.

Depending on the porosity of the rock the petroleum is in, plus how viscous it is, and how deep and dispersed, the rate at which it can be removed can vary enormously, and the speed at which the surrounding rock can replenish the oil as it is pumped out also limits its potential for recovery. This is not unusual, most of the world's oil fields only give up a fraction of their oil, and more expensive technology must be employed (some of which may not be invented yet, and maybe never will!) to get to it. This is why oil men talk about oil reserves and oil production. They are NOT the same thing, I know, I worked for Gulf Oil prospecting for oil from satellite pictures and drawing maps of oil formations for five years. Oil companies decide how much to invest in this technology depending on the price of oil, the more it can sell for at the pump, the more they are willing to spend to get it out. This is why the Bakken Oil hasn't been fully developed. It's not profitable, yet, or at least, not profitable enough to make it worth their while.

Don't take my word for it, do a Google on Bakken Formation Oil and read for yourself some of the industry and geology websites and stay away from the political rabble-rousers and troublemakers. This is what Wikipedia's excellent article has to say about it, in part:

"While these numbers would appear to indicate a massive reserve, the percentage of this oil which might be extracted using current technology is another matter. Estimates of the Bakken's technically recoverable oil have ranged from as low as 1% — because the Bakken shale has generally low porosity and low permeability, making the oil difficult to extract — to Leigh Price's estimate of 50% recoverable.[11] Reports issued by both the USGS and the state of North Dakota in April 2008 seem to indicate the lower range of recoverable estimates are more realistic with current technology."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_Formation

If you're paying too much for gas, don't blame the environmentalists, they've been trying to warn you about those V-8s and SUVs you love to drive, and you just haven't been paying attention, have you? Remember, the cheapest gas of all is the gallon you never had to burn in the first place.

Elisee Reclus