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Mr. James MulvaMarch 14, 2006 TESTIMONY OF JAMES J. MULVA CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CONOCOPHILLIPS BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY ON TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 2006
ConocoPhillips fully appreciates the concerns that you and your constituents have about energy prices. We think it is important to address the underlying causes of the recent increases in energy prices, and we thank you for giving us an opportunity to do so today. The Committee specifically asked us to address the impact that consolidations in the energy industry have had on prices. We will share with the Committee the experience we have gained from our mergers and acquisitions and the roles they have played in forming ConocoPhillips as it operates today. We will demonstrate how these transactions were necessary responses to a very challenging and ever-changing business environment. Our mergers and acquisitions have enabled ConocoPhillips to compete more effectively by achieving the scale to undertake additional capital-intensive long-term projects, spreading political risk from global exploration, lowering costs and improving efficiency, all of which increase the short-term and long-term supply of petroleum products to U.S. consumers. We believe that this has led to lower energy prices than those that would have prevailed without the merger transactions. Each of our significant transactions was extensively reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Where the FTC had any concerns about the effects of the transaction on prices to consumers, the Commission mandated significant divestitures of assets or other actions. The FTC has documented that it has pursued divestitures or challenged mergers in the oil industry at lower levels of consolidation than in any other industry and that "despite some increases over time, concentration for most levels of the United States petroleum industry has remained low to moderate". The FTC also has continued to monitor retail gasoline and diesel prices quite vigorously, tracking these prices in some 360 cities across the nation. And they have monitored wholesale prices in 20 major urban areas. The Commission has stated that the vast majority of its investigations and studies on gasoline pricing have revealed that market factors are the primary drivers of both price increases and price spikes. States also have investigated gasoline and diesel prices. ConocoPhillips cooperates fully - both on a voluntary and a formal basis - with authorities and expends significant resources in providing information and other assistance to the authorities monitoring the petroleum industry. In this testimony and when answering your questions to the best of my ability, I will from time to time express my opinions, beliefs and predictions about future events. As I am sure you appreciate, these future events are subject to risks and uncertainties. I refer Members of the Committee and other interested parties to our public filings, where we provide a more extensive description of our risk factors.
Before describing ConocoPhillips' specific experience with mergers, we would like to share our general views on why the petroleum industry has been consolidating. As you know, there have been a significant number of mergers in the petroleum industry in the last decade, just as there have been in many other industries during this timeframe. To some degree, the trend toward consolidation is being driven by globalization, with mergers giving companies from all industries sufficient scale and a lower cost structure to enable them to compete in a global arena. For petroleum companies, the global business environment has become particularly challenging as government-owned enterprises from both oil-producing and consuming nations have emerged as new global petroleum players, adding to competition in the marketplace. In fact, the chart below shows that the emergence of national oil companies competing outside their borders has more than offset the decline in the number of international oil companies due to mergers. Thus, the number of international competitors has increased since the 1980s. The upstream segment of the petroleum business consists of exploration for and development and production (E&P) of crude oil and natural gas supplies. Access to crude oil and natural gas reserves is the principal challenge in the upstream segment of the petroleum industry today. In the United States, oil and gas production is declining, and the areas with the best prospects for exploration and development are off limits. These access restrictions extend well beyond the most environmentally sensitive areas. Constrained access increases the requirement for the U.S. energy industry to look for resources abroad, where resources often are controlled by national oil companies. Resource access has been steadily eroding since the 1960s. As shown in the pie charts below, today international oil companies can directly access only 7 percent of the world's oil and gas reserves, with an additional 12 percent accessible through joint ventures with national oil companies. Competition for the limited resources available - combined with rising foreign government taxes - make it difficult for publicly traded and private oil companies to access resources with acceptable returns to our shareholders. This has led to declining organic reserve replacement rates for many international oil companies. Meanwhile, national oil companies from oil-producing and consuming nations, along with privately held Russian companies, are now competing globally and adding to the reserves access challenge. The most significant opportunities that are available to privately held international oil companies today are projects that host-country national oil companies decide should be undertaken with foreign participation. These projects often are very large, complex and risky. They require financial strength, proven technologies, highly trained personnel and reliable access to markets. Many of them are in developing countries and have substantial political and economic risks. A typical ConocoPhillips exploration and development project costs several billion dollars of up-front investment and does not generate production or revenues for seven to eight years. For example, a project to produce and deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) currently costs between $5 and $10 billion; similarly the Alaskan gas pipeline is expected to cost more than $20 billion. Only large companies have the financial capacity and technical resources to effectively develop these projects and have sufficient diversification to manage the risk. For U.S. companies to compete in today's environment of mega projects, they've grown in size commensurate with the growing magnitude, complexity and risk of available opportunities. The forces demanding larger and more diverse oil and gas companies will continue to grow in intensity in the years ahead. Moving to the downstream segment, which includes the refining and marketing businesses (R&M), there has been a reduction in the number of refineries being operated in the United States over the last 25 years, but this is not a result of mergers. Between 1973 and 1981, there were federal government incentives for companies to own and operate small, and often inefficient, refineries. The elimination of these incentives in 1981 spurred the eventual exit of many inefficient refineries. The number of operable domestic refineries declined from 319 in 1980 to 149 in 2004. According to the FTC, refinery closures overwhelmingly have involved small, relatively unsophisticated facilities. The large capital expenditures required for mandated specifications, such as clean fuels and emissions reductions, also were a likely factor in the closure of smaller, less efficient refineries. The oil industry has done a commendable job of expanding capacity and increasing utilization rates at existing refineries. Thus, while the number of refineries has declined since 1980, expansions and improved efficiency have allowed the industry to actually increase refinery production volumes by 14 percent. Efficiency improvements over the last two decades also have resulted in substantial cost savings for consumers. The graph below shows the difference between refiners' crude acquisition cost and the pre-tax retail price of gasoline (which is the combination of the cost and profits from refining, distributing and marketing retail gasoline). The graph shows that the difference between cost and price fell from about 99 cents per gallon (real 2005 dollars) in 1980 to 49 cents per gallon in 2002. It subsequently increased to 66 cents per gallon in 2005 (real 2005 dollars) due to the impact of the hurricanes and tighter market conditions. However, even at 2005 prices, this difference was still one-third lower than it was 25 years ago in real terms. This decline has occurred despite the increase in manufacturing cost for cleaner fuels. ConocoPhillips' Merger Experience Let me begin the discussion about ConocoPhillips' merger and acquisition experience with a brief description of our company. ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas, and operating in 40 different countries with 2005 annual revenues of $179 billion and assets of $107 billion as of December 31, 2005. We are the third-largest integrated energy company in the United States, based on market capitalization and oil and gas proved reserves and production. We are the eighth-largest non-government controlled energy company globally based on market capitalization. We are the second-largest refiner in the United States, and the fourth-largest refiner in the world. But a company is more than its revenues and assets - it is its employees, shareholders and the communities it touches. We have approximately 35,600 employees, who own about five percent of our shares through company-sponsored benefit plans. Approximately 83 percent of ConocoPhillips stock is owned by more than 2,000 different institutional funds, representing investments by a wide array of individuals and businesses, as well as numerous private and public pension plans. The descriptions and rationales for and cost and efficiency improvements resulting from the following transactions are described below: ? Conoco-Phillips merger I think you will see that these mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures have benefited consumers by reducing cost and improving the efficiency of our business, resulting in increased supplies of petroleum products for American consumers. Fundamentally, the supply of petroleum products depends on the ability of U.S. companies to access crude oil and natural gas and the ability of those companies to refine that crude oil into petroleum products for American consumers. Developing supplies of crude oil and natural gas requires petroleum companies to undertake ever larger and riskier projects, both domestically and abroad. The transactions undertaken by ConocoPhillips have been motivated by and have subsequently achieved increased access to crude oil and natural gas, and increased refining capacity to turn that crude oil into petroleum products. This increased supply has benefited - and can be expected to continue to benefit - American consumers through lower prices and greater energy security. These mergers and acquisitions also have strengthened the sustainability of the company's competitive position and long-term viability. Conoco-Phillips Merger Given the size and importance of the merger of Conoco and Phillips to our company's history, I would like to review this transaction in greater depth than the other transactions. This $36 billion merger of equals was completed on August 30, 2002. The rationale for this merger was to form a company of sufficient size and scale to address opportunities that could not be achieved by either company on a stand-alone basis. The merger was intended to develop a diversified growth portfolio and benefit from the intellectual capital of the two companies. It also was intended to strengthen our financial position through diversifying earnings and cash flow, developing a stronger balance sheet and improving capital efficiency and the cost structure. By the end of 2004, we documented $1.9 billion in cumulative cost and efficiency savings resulting from this merger. These synergies have benefited American consumers by increasing volumes and by enabling ConocoPhillips to increase investments and compete vigorously for international supplies of natural gas and crude oil. In the E&P segment of the business, our increased scale, financial strength and diversification have allowed ConocoPhillips to expand our investments in traditional core areas as well as in developing new legacy assets. The E&P business segment also benefited from the combination of the companies' complementary technologies. For example, Phillips possessed natural gas liquefaction technology and Conoco had a natural gas-to-liquids technology. Possessing both of these technologies has allowed the company to become a more effective global gas player. There were also substantial integration benefits associated with utilizing complementary competencies. For example, by combining Phillips' liquefied natural gas (LNG) technical expertise with Conoco's extensive gas marketing experience, ConocoPhillips has become a successful player in the global LNG business in the space of just three years. This puts our company in a strong position to help expand the supply of natural gas to American consumers over the coming years as the domestic supply of natural gas declines. Our increased size also gives us more leverage in procurement, which is an extremely important benefit in this highly capital-intensive business. In the R&M business segment, we benefited from lowering our cost structure, which was made possible by sharing technology and best practices, optimizing crude supply and improving management of intermediate refining feedstock across our entire refining system. Unit cost reductions have resulted from initiatives in the areas of energy efficiency, maintenance and procurement of goods and services. Additional benefits of technology and best-practice sharing have reduced the capital costs of projects. The merger also resulted in increased efficiency in R&M operations. We have been able to improve the reliability and increase clean refined product yields at our refineries by sharing technology and best practices across our refinery network. These include initiatives in preventative maintenance, reduced turnaround time, improved tuning and control of operating units, and installation of improved technologies. Conoco and Phillips both brought expertise in key technologies to the table. Conoco's strong petroleum coking technology skills were applied to Phillips' refineries and Phillips' alkylation technology to increase feed and improve octane, along with Phillips' sulfur removal technology, were applied to Conoco's refineries. Since the merger, refinery utilization has improved from the low 90 percent range to the mid 90 percent range, which is equivalent to adding a 100 thousand barrel per day refinery. In addition to increased capacity utilization, we also have increased the nameplate capacity of our U.S. refineries by approximately 1 percent per year over the last two years. Having additional U.S. refineries to upgrade is allowing us to bring additional crude oil from Canadian oil sands production into the United States. For example, we currently are expanding the capabilities of our Wood River refinery in Illinois to add both crude capacity and a large coker so it can handle additional volumes of Canadian oil sands crude oil. We are also partnering with a Canadian company to build the Keystone Pipeline to bring an additional 435 thousand barrels per day of Canadian crude into the Midwestern United States. The combined ownership of Conoco's Canadian crude oil supply and Phillips' Wood River refinery facilitated this major investment. Again, our size and financial strength allow us to undertake major projects of this nature. All across our post-merger refining system, we can point to numerous examples of higher crude throughputs stemming from our ability to balance crude oil supplies among our refineries. For example, crude oil throughput at our Sweeny, Texas refinery was maintained at higher levels during the Venezuelan supply disruption in 2003 due to our ability to divert the specialized crude from three of our other refineries to Sweeny, because the others could easily adapt to alternative supplies. In several instances, we have been able to maximize our refining system throughput during Gulf of Mexico storms that delayed crude oil deliveries. We have greater balancing options among waterborne cargoes, pipeline receipts and inventories. We also have greater volumes of clean products since the merger because of our ability to balance intermediate and blendstock inventories among refineries. For example, we increased the supply of imported gasoline and gasoline blendstocks from Conoco's Humber refinery in England through Phillips' Bayway and Trainer refineries on the U.S. East Coast. We also move premium gasoline blendstocks (e.g., alkylate, toluene) from our East Coast to West Coast refineries to increase the supply of CARB gasoline and to enhance octane. In addition, when we plan turnarounds, we can process intermediate products (not yet upgraded to a finished product due to capacity in turnaround) at other plants. With unplanned downtime, we can utilize stocks from other facilities to maintain supply to consumers. We also have realized significant efficiency gains in pipelines and terminals in the United States since the merger. For example, we improved Canadian crude access on the Spearhead pipeline and improved crude import capability on the West Coast. Divestitures stemming from the merger also moved refining capacity into the hands of new industry participants. While we did not believe it was warranted, in response to an FTC mandate before the merger was closed, our Woods Cross refinery in Utah was sold to Holly Corporation, and our Denver refinery in Colorado was sold to Suncor. In both cases, the new owners have invested to maintain output and to make new clean fuels at these refineries. Phillips - Tosco Acquisition This acquisition, which involved the exchange of $7 billion of Phillips stock for Tosco shares, was completed on September 14, 2001. The rationale for the transaction was to build critical mass, capture economies of scale and to reduce the unit costs of R&M operations in the United States. We identified $280 million in pre-tax synergies from this transaction. Sources of synergies for refining included increasing the ability to use lower cost crude oils, increasing operating reliability, increasing clean product yields, lowering operating costs, and utilizing Tosco's commercial expertise to maximize asset values (e.g., use lower cost feedstock). The acquisition also increased transportation volumes without a commensurate increase in costs through sharing best practices and centralizing services. Perhaps the most important benefit in terms of volume expansion relates to the fact that ConocoPhillips is able to invest significantly more in the refining business than Tosco, as a smaller independent, was able to invest. Tosco invested about 70 to 80 cents per barrel of capacity during the late 1990s, while ConocoPhillips' investments have averaged about $1.25 per barrel over the last three years. Moreover, additional investments are expected. ConocoPhillips also is upgrading Tosco's former refineries. As described above, these upgrades include expanding the processing capability of a significant portion of the Wood River refinery to increase crude capacity and access more Canadian unconventional heavy crude oil. The integration of Tosco's business, which was all in the R&M segment, with ConocoPhillips' production of these crude oils facilitates these investments, in part by reducing the risk associated with the investments. Conoco-Gulf Canada Acquisition Conoco acquired Gulf Canada on July 16, 2001, in a transaction valued at $9.4 billion. One rationale for the acquisition was to increase Conoco's access to North American natural gas reserves, and thereby improve supply to American consumers. This goal is being realized as ConocoPhillips has utilized its greater financial strength and U.S. gas marketing position to increase the supply of Canadian natural gas to the United States from Gulf Canada production. ConocoPhillips expects that its financial strength and commercial skills also will enhance development of the supply of natural gas from the Mackenzie Delta gas-producing region in Arctic Canada. Since the acquisition, ConocoPhillips has applied its expertise in heavy-oil production and upgrading to the development of Gulf Canada's Canadian oil sands reserves. Crude oil from these reserves is increasingly being supplied to U.S. refineries as far south as ConocoPhillips' refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and, in the near future, Texas. ConocoPhillips' investment in Gulf Canada also has ensured that the crude oil production resulting from these E&P investments has a home in refineries capable of processing these crude oils. ConocoPhillips' Acquisition of Stock Interest in LUKOIL and Subsequent Formation of Upstream Joint Ventures with LUKOIL in Russia On September 29, 2004, ConocoPhillips announced a broad-based strategic alliance with LUKOIL, an international integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Russia. ConocoPhillips initially acquired 7.6 percent of LUKOIL ordinary shares for $1.99 billion through a government privatization process and began pursuing a near-term target of 10 percent equity ownership soon thereafter via tender or open market purchases, which the company achieved by year-end 2004. At year-end 2005, ConocoPhillips had increased its ownership in LUKOIL to 16.1 percent. ConocoPhillips has the right to purchase up to 20 percent interest in LUKOIL, which it plans to reach by year-end 2006. Simultaneously, ConocoPhillips and LUKOIL formed joint ventures to manage the exploration, development and production of crude oil fields in Russia and potentially in Iraq. In addition to investment capital, ConocoPhillips provides these joint ventures with its experience in the international energy business and exposure to global best practices and technology, including Arctic and offshore operations, gas commercialization, refining, and information systems and reporting. This joint venture in Russia expands ConocoPhillips' opportunities to develop new supplies of crude oil in resource rich areas. As noted above, long-term access to crude oil for U.S. consumers must include increased access to international supplies of crude as oil production in the United States declines. ConocoPhillips' investments in the development of Russian crude with LUKOIL add an important new source of crude supply for American consumers. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States presently imports about 12 million barrels per day or 60 percent of its oil supplies. It is projected to grow to 17 million barrels per day by 2030 or 63 percent of projected supplies. Diversification of supply sources for imported oil will enhance energy security. ConocoPhillips' Pending Acquisition of Burlington Resources On December 12, 2005, ConocoPhillips announced its intent to acquire Burlington Resources Inc. for $33.9 billion. All required regulatory clearances have been obtained. Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by Burlington Resources shareholders, and other customary closing conditions. The rationale for this transaction is to increase ConocoPhillips' ability to supply North American gas and obtain high-quality, long-lived, low-risk gas reserves. This acquisition also provides near-term production growth, which complements the numerous long-term projects in our portfolio. This production growth is expected to come, in part, through ConocoPhillips' access to Burlington's technical capabilities, particularly its expertise in commercializing unconventional gas projects in coal bed methane and so-called "tight" gas. ConocoPhillips brings to the table better health, safety and environmental processes and operating capabilities. ConocoPhillips also has a lower cost structure than Burlington. Increased natural gas production in the United States will benefit U.S. consumers in a time of ongoing recovery of natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico from last year's hurricanes. We expect to achieve pre-tax annual synergies of $375 million, through portfolio optimization and operating expense reductions. This acquisition also enhances the geographic diversity of projects within the United States and strengthens our supply position in Western Canada. The transaction also increases ConocoPhillips' weighting of its portfolio toward E&P. This transaction also has significantly lower risk than mega projects in developing countries with uncertain development costs and fiscal regimes. Other Transactions ConocoPhillips' Investment Plans As described above, mergers and acquisitions have allowed ConocoPhillips to create a global petroleum company that is more capable of deploying significant investments to increase the supply of crude oil, natural gas and refined products to U.S. consumers. ConocoPhillips invested about $6 billion back into our business in 2003. This amount grew to $9.5 billion in 2004 and $11.6 billion in 2005, which is nearly double the 2003 level. ConocoPhillips has been investing its earnings back into maintaining and expanding supplies. We had 2005 earnings of $13.5 billion - about $1 billion a month, but our capital investments also were close to $1 billion a month. In fact, over the last three years, ConocoPhillips' earnings were about $26 billion while investments were just over $27 billion. ConocoPhillips expects to grow its base with continued high levels of investment. In 2006, we intend to maintain our higher investment rate to increase supply of crude oil, natural gas and refined products. ConocoPhillips has been investing aggressively in refining, and in developing new natural gas and crude supplies for the United States. A few of our principal investment projects are described below. All are very large projects and will require significant capital expenditures well into the future. ? ConocoPhillips has been at the forefront in recent years in growing the company's refining business at a rate that was among the highest in the industry. Over the past three years, ConocoPhillips spent $4.2 billion worldwide, of which $3.4 billion was spent domestically, to expand and modernize our refineries and upgrade marketing operations. This includes environmental spending, including clean fuels, over the last three years of nearly $1.7 billion in our U.S. refining and marketing business. ? Going forward in refining, we are planning an expanded investment program, whereby we expect to invest $4-5 billion on top of our maintenance and other refinery investments of $1-2 billion per year. This investment program is aimed at growing our U.S. refining capacity by about 11 percent and improving our capability of handling lower quality crude oils in order to make 15 percent more clean fuels such as gasoline, diesel and heating oil by 2011. These expansions will add enough clean fuels products to be the equivalent of adding one world-scale refinery to our domestic refining system. We are accomplishing it by growing output at nine of our refineries rather than adding a grassroots refinery. Even our international refinery investments benefit U.S. consumers. For example, our planned investment in our newly acquired refinery in Germany is expected to allow us to significantly increase imports of gasoline to the United States. ? ConocoPhillips is making major investments in North American Arctic natural gas through the Mackenzie Delta and Alaska North Slope pipelines. The initial development of the Mackenzie Delta will access 6 trillion cubic feet of gas, which is expected to begin production in 2011 at approximately 1 billion cubic feet per day. As other fields are added, the pipeline capacity can be expanded to 1.8 billion cubic feet per day. The total cost of this pipeline is estimated to be at least $6 billion. ? The Alaska North Slope currently has an estimated 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which, if commercialized, would increase total U.S. gas proven reserves by approximately 20 percent. Undiscovered gas reserves in that State are estimated to be much higher. When the pipeline connecting this gas with the lower 48 market is completed, about 4.0 - 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of new natural gas will be flowing to American consumers. This equates to about 8 percent of present U.S. natural gas production. The Alaska pipeline alone, using 2001 cost estimates, is expected to cost about $20 billion and take 10 years before the first cubic foot of gas is sold on the market. Producers on the North Slope reached agreement in principle with the Governor of Alaska on terms and conditions that would move the Alaska natural gas pipeline closer to reality. These agreements are now or should be soon pending before the Alaska legislature. Natural gas from Alaska will, eventually, make a sizable contribution in meeting the demand of U.S. consumers. ? ConocoPhillips is also investing to increase the supply of natural gas to U.S. consumers by bringing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the United States. For LNG supply, we are moving forward with projects in Qatar and Nigeria and aggressively pursuing projects in Russia, Venezuela and Australia. These are all multi-billion dollar projects. We are scheduled to bring our first cargo of Qatari gas to the United States in 2009. For delivery of natural gas from LNG, we are participating in the construction of an LNG regasification facility at Freeport, Texas. We are pursuing two other LNG regasification terminals in Compass Port, offshore Alabama, and in Beacon Port, offshore Louisiana. These are currently in the permitting process. We are committed to making the investments in these facilities. We also are pursuing permitting a regasification facility on the West Coast of the United States, and are open to adding other terminals on all Coasts if we believe they will add value. ? To bolster U.S. and global oil supplies, ConocoPhillips is expanding conventional crude production in Venezuela, Russia and the Far East. There likely will be a bridge of unconventional heavy oil and natural gas before the world transitions to alternative fuels in a major way. ConocoPhillips has invested and continues to invest heavily in unconventional heavy oil production in Venezuela and Canada. We also are partnering with a Canadian company to develop the $2.1 billion Keystone Pipeline, which will bring 435 thousand barrels per day of much needed Canadian heavy oil production to our U.S. Midwestern refineries.
While ConocoPhillips does not assume that the high oil prices in the last year will be sustained, we do want to give you an appreciation of the challenges that lie ahead in supplying U.S. and world energy needs. Government policies play an important role in either facilitating or detracting from the petroleum industry's ability to expand output sufficiently to meet consumer needs. We believe that strong global energy prices today have been caused by a period of extraordinary demand growth in the face of little excess production capacity and frequent supply disruptions. Crude oil prices are the main driver of gasoline and other product prices, as noted in a recent FTC report. The report indicated that over the last 20 years, changes in crude oil prices have explained 85 percent of the changes in the price of gasoline in the United States. Crude oil prices are determined in highly liquid and transparent U.S. and international markets by thousands of traders and other business entities based on the market conditions that exist on a given day. Global crude prices have been rising since 2002 as a result of the U.S.-led global economic recovery, leading to exceptional oil demand growth and rapid industrial growth in the developing economies of Asia. Over the last decade, oil demand in China and India doubled, and is expected to double again by 2020. Strong U.S. and global economic growth are certainly desirable but the consequence of strong growth is a rise in the demand for commodities, including oil. Higher prices inevitably will justify and encourage new investments to increase the supply of energy, whether in the form of oil and gas or alternative sources. The refining industry has been challenged by a number of Congressional and State mandates, over the years, focused on significant spending on clean fuels and emissions reductions. This has diverted capital from capacity expansion. Federal and State regulatory processes also have discouraged the building of grass roots refineries and expansions of existing refineries. The process for siting and securing the many permits necessary for a refinery are lengthy and difficult. We have found this to be the case in our on-going efforts to expand refinery capacity at existing locations. The need to develop about 100 different "boutique" grades of gasoline in the United States in various localities also has increased the cost of manufacturing gasoline and reduced short-term product fungibility. The U.S. Department of Energy has reported that boutique fuels exacerbate price volatility and that reducing the number of fuel types likely will reduce the frequency and magnitude of price surges. Our company would support moving away from "boutique" fuels to more standardized refined products. This will make it easier to redistribute products during times of shortage and should reduce price volatility in normal market conditions. Another key factor in the price rise we have seen in recent years is the increase in the cost of finding, developing and producing a barrel of oil. Steel prices doubled between the end of 2002 and end of 2004, and they are a large cost component for our industry. In the last three years, onshore drilling costs in the U.S. rose 52 percent and the cost of tubular goods rose by 125 percent. These components represent about half the cost of onshore wells. Costs have been rising in part because the oil services industry has not been able to keep pace with the rapid spending increases by our industry. Shipping rates for large crude carriers also tripled between 2002 and 2004, raising the cost of imported crude. However, there also is a longer term trend of costs increasing because our industry does not have access to the lowest cost reserves, including in the United States. Thus, our industry is going after more remote, deeper water, more complex and lower quality reserves that inherently cost more than what we were developing a decade ago. Both Goldman Sachs and Sanford Bernstein recently estimated that oil replacement costs are currently around $50 per barrel, while they were closer to $35 per barrel in the early 2000s and $20 per barrel in the 1990s. While some of this increase is, we believe, transitory, the cost increase relating to reduced resource access likely will remain. Resource access is a particular problem for natural gas in the United States because the most highly prospective areas are off limits for drilling or the permitting requirements are so onerous that prospects become uneconomic. Given industry decline rates of 30 percent per year in existing Lower 48 natural gas wells and the long lead times for LNG projects and Arctic gas pipelines, gas supplies in the United States could well be tight over the next few years. The only short-term and long-term solution is to make more acreage available, especially in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Rocky Mountain regions. We would encourage the reinstatement of lease sale 181 in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. We also would encourage the Department of the Interior to ensure that the Bureau of Land Management has sufficient staffing to expedite permitting in the Rockies. Such measures can increase the supply to U.S. consumers in the near term. Outside the United States, we believe that the federal government should use diplomacy to encourage foreign producing nations to allow greater resource access at reasonable terms. Another challenge is the difficulty in permitting key energy infrastructure such as refineries, LNG regasification (receiving) terminals and pipelines in consuming countries like the United States. In the United States, regulation and NIMBY (not-in-my-back-yard) sentiments have caused costly delays and even the abandonment of some important infrastructure projects. In order to facilitate sufficient investment in key energy infrastructure the industry needs governments at all levels to be thorough, but at the same time, to streamline permitting and environmental review processes. Our company is particularly concerned about permitting and the NIMBY issues associated with building new LNG receiving terminals. LNG offers the most promising option for meeting the growing natural gas needs of American consumers in the medium term. But, the permitting and approval of new regasification terminals is occurring significantly slower than we expected. Many are being delayed and face being cancelled altogether, due to challenges at the local level. As noted above, LNG is an important component of natural gas supply to U.S. consumers, particularly in light of the rapid production decline in existing U.S. natural gas wells. The siting of LNG terminals was addressed in earlier energy policy legislation. However, the federal government, states and the individual localities where these facilities are planned need to have continued dialogue and cooperation on siting issues. There also needs to be better cooperation among the various federal agencies charged with evaluating and permitting these facilities. Finally, what we do not need from the government are additional taxes that will reduce the industry's ability to invest and provide additional energy supplies. According to a 1990 report by the Congressional Research Service, the windfall profits tax that was signed into law in 1980 and repealed in 1988 drained $79 billion in industry revenues during the 1980s that could have been used to invest in new oil production - leading to 1.6 billion fewer barrels of oil being produced in the U.S. from 1980-1988. The tax reduced domestic oil production by as much as 6 percent, and increased oil imports by as much as 16 percent. Current proposals to increase the taxes of a selected few taxpayers by taxing LIFO inventories and imposing double taxation on foreign earnings are little more than "stealth" windfall profits taxes and will detract from investment and harm the competitiveness of U.S. versus foreign energy companies. The key to improving energy security and reducing prices is increased investment by the energy industry across a diverse set of energy projects in both the upstream and downstream business segments. Our industry is a global, highly competitive industry. ConocoPhillips could not make the investments we are making today to increase the supply of crude oil, refined products and natural gas to American consumers without the company we have built, in part through mergers and acquisitions, over the last decade. We would not have had the financial strength, the ability to handle large and complex projects, the technologies, commercial skills or resource prospects without the transactions we have completed over the years. We expect to continue our high rates of efficient investment to expand the supply of crude oil, refined products and natural gas to U.S. consumers. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, the mergers and acquisitions described to you today have been instrumental in making ConocoPhillips a world class competitor for oil and gas projects around the world. These consolidations have allowed us to become more efficient in developing these projects- projects that we would not have been able to compete for without the benefits brought by consolidations. Since much of our global market is focused on the United States and the American consumer, we believe these consolidations have had a positive impact by giving consumers a stronger American voice in competing for precious world resources and obtaining them at a lower cost. Americans have a stake in keeping the U.S. energy industry competitive, and we believe ConocoPhillips has been an important contributor to sustaining U.S. competitiveness internationally. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee for this opportunity to appear before you. |


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Throw a Kids' Summer Party
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For the last two years, Alison Mosshartâs main role has been that of writhing, raging frontwoman for partly Nashville-based hard rockers the Dead Weather.
As she gets back to business with her other famous band, The Kills, weâre reminded of her more subtle strengths. On their brand-new fourth album, Blood Pressures, Mosshart and partner Jamie Hince continue to tone down and tune up their sparse, groove-propelled rock.
They plumb new depths of melody and soul â albeit with the same short-circuiting garage-rock sound â on tracks such as the bizarro-reggae jam âSatelliteâ and piano waltz âThe Last Goodbye.â
The Kills head to Nashville on Friday, April 22 for a show at the Cannery Ballroom (1 Cannery Row, 251-3020). It starts at 9 p.m., and tickets are $15.


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The 90 Second Lawyer: Answers to Common Personal & Business Legal Questions
Offers consumers reliable answers to more than 80 of the most commonly asked legal questions. Provides accurate and authoritative answers to ... Show synopsis
You're signed up (and we ♥ you). Watch for our Welcome e-mail and your first coupon. Thanks!


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Meet the Newest Members of the Boston Bruins Cheerleaders: The Boston Media!
January 8, 2012
Rob Williams
35471 Commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.robthehockeyguy.com%2F2012%2F01%2F08%2Fmeet-the-newest-members-of-the-boston-bruins-cheerleaders-the-boston-media%2FMeet+the+Newest+Members+of+the+Boston+Bruins+Cheerleaders%3A+The+Boston+Media%212012-01-08+22%3A52%3A43Rob+Williamshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.robthehockeyguy.com%2F%3Fp%3D3547
Game Recap
After the Canucks thrilling 4-3 win yesterday against the Boston Bruins yesterday, I decided to look for a Boston perspective on the game. What I read was downright frightening. Say what you want about Vancouver's media, but they don't openly bend the truth to any degree that they do in Boston. It seems as though […]


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Photo by Tamie Meck Cedaredge wrestler Zac Anderson attempts to stack his opponent at the fourth annual Paonia Summer Duals wrestling camp. Cedaredge and Delta brought several young wrestlers to this camp.Summer wrestling tends to be a bit different than the winter season. Yes, wrestlers want to win.
Read more...
Paonia High School
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Splendiferous! Share your favorites and earn zulily credit. see detailsconnect
Whether it's starting Baby's college fund or date-night money, this ceramic bank is just begging to have coins placed in it. Painted and pepped up with cool colors in a playful silhouette, it celebrates a new addition in an entertaining and endearing way.


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. /quotes/zigman/54683/delayed/quotes/nls/gmcr GMCR -1.90% said late Tuesday Robert Stiller has stepped aside as chairman of the board in connection with margin-call related sales that were inconsistent with the company's internal trading policies. Stiller also will not serve on any board committees although he will remain a member of the board. William Davis, who also sold stocks, is no longer serving as lead director. The board appointed Michael Mardy as interim chairman.
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- XGreen Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR)


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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Buffalo scored the game's first two touchdowns -- on Jordan Tucker runs of 28 yards each -- but Wirt County dominated thereafter for a 48-14 home victory in high school football Friday night.
Wirt County (2-4) kept the ball on the ground, rushing for 395 yards on 53 carries, led by Jake Linville's 133 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. Wesley Valentine contributed 106 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries.
For Buffalo (0-7), Tucker picked up 103 yards on 17 carries. The Bison finished with 297 yards rushing and passing.
WOODROW WILSON 27, PARKERSBURG 26: Chase Hancock accounted for more than 140 total yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions to lead the Flying Eagles past the visiting Big Reds.
Hancock's touchdowns came on a 24-yard run and a 28-yard catch. Troy Lilly added two touchdowns for Woodrow Wilson (3-3).
For Parkersburg (2-4), Aaron Roberts scored two TDs, including a 1-yard run with 11 seconds left, but the 2-point conversion run was stopped short. Roberts finished the game with 81 yards on 14 carries.
RAVENSWOOD 53, BRAXTON COUNTY 16: Ravenswood scored the game's first seven touchdowns in a victory at Braxton County.
The Red Devils' Devon Crews rushed for 193 yards on just 12 carries and scored three TDs, including a 7-yard pass from Heath Burgess. Burgess also threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Crow.
Braxton's Chase Oney scored on runs for 5 and 1 yard, and Jared Pitchford rushed 13 times for 69 yards.
Ravenswood improved to 4-2, and Braxton dropped to 1-6.


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Wednesday, March 12, 2014
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Home › Product Finder › Laptops
Lenovo ThinkPad X220
The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is powered by a dual-core Core i5-2520M clocked at 2.5GHz, Intel's HD 3000 graphics core and has max TDP of only 35W. Other specs include 4GB of RAM, a Hitachi 320GB 7200RPM hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a 6-cell Li-ion battery. The ThinkPad X220 also includes a 12.5" 1366x768 IPS display, a full-size keyboard and an all-new oversized touchpad with integrated mouse-click buttons.
8 -
11 -
2 -
Impressive battery life.
Delivers impressive performance, which is sufficient to outdo any gaming laptop.
Strongly built and still is immensely light.
Classic ThinkPad design.
Latest Intel processors.
Extremely comfortable keyboard.
Excellent IPS Based Display.
USB 3.0 Port And ExpressCard Slot.
Display has great viewing angles.
DisplayPort and HD Webcam are new to the family.
Comes overloaded with background apps.
The touchpad-pointing-stick combo remains an awkward compromise.
Hefty premium for the sturdy case.
Business-friendly software.
Clickpad can be a bit wonky.
Design may feel outdated to some.
Bottom Got Quite Warm During Heavy Use.
Washed-out, flaky webcam.
Short palm rest.
New touchpad design is a one-finger-at-a-time navigating tool.
Unexciting color.
No dedicated graphics option.
A bit pricey.
Weak speakers.
By TechSpot on March 14, 2011
The ThinkPad X220 we tested came with the optional IPS display upgrade. This is the first time I have worked with such a display aside from the one on my iPad and I must say, it's leaps and bounds better than any other notebook screen I have used in...
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By laptops.reviewed.com on June 07, 2012
The ThinkPad X220 is a sturdy machine that's all business. The Thinkpad we tested housed an Intel Core i3-2350M processor with 4 GB of RAM and 320 GB of storage. It's one of the smallest laptops we've tested; it's travel weight...
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By Expert Reviews on May 07, 2012
Powerful with amazing battery life, but an Ultrabook is a cheaper option...
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By Trusted Reviews on March 30, 2012
It might not be sleek and sexy, but the 12in Lenovo ThinkPad X220 laptop has it where it counts: a rugged chassis, amazing keyboard, completely flexible and upgradable specifications including 3G, great IPS screen and - the icing on the cake - amazing...
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By TechRadar on March 23, 2012
Say hello to the Lenovo ThinkPad X220, a splendid example of the Chinese manufacturer's commitment to powerful business machines. Weighing only 1.7kg, the ThinkPad X220 can easily be carried around for a day and its briefcase-friendly 306 x 232 x...
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By Kitguru.net on February 23, 2012
The IBM Thinkpad is an iconic machine well known for the 'boxy' design, class leading keyboards and chassis rigidity to deal with the toughest of working environments. Lenovo took over the IBM personal computer division in 2005 and have...
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By StorageReview on November 21, 2011
Lenovo brought a lot to the table with the ThinkPad X220 and they impressed us in almost every category. Starting with storage performance, it offers SATA 6.0Gb/s speeds for drives capable as well as an mSATA slot for drives like the Intel SSD 310....
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By Tech2 on October 15, 2011
Let's get this clear, the Lenovo X220 caters to a very selective audience - business professionals and executives who don't need the extra frills (read: 15.6-inch HD LED Widescreens, Blu-ray DVD writer, dedicated graphics card, HDMI, etc) in...
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By eTech Reviews on October 07, 2011
Lenovo ThinkPad X220 has a 12.5 inch screen and it is smaller than a 13 inch notebook but still bigger than a 11 inch system. The resolution of 1,366×768 pixels was expected on this screen size and it is the same that you get on all 11 to 13 inch...
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By InfoWorld on August 27, 2011
The common denominator is small size and light weight. Otherwise, the usual tradeoffs apply. Be on the alert for lousy ergonomics, poor...
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Apple reportedly working on native 4K display support in Mavericks


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Intel servers deliver enhanced, energy-efficient performance for data-intensive business applications.
Enabling component supplier listing for Itanium® processor 9500 series-based platform includes NDA and contact information for vendors.
Intel® Itanium® processor Technical Resources list includes applications notes, datasheets, packing information, product briefs, and more.
Brief: The Intel® Itanium® processor 9500 series features new microarchitecture to deliver superior performance, reliability, and power efficiency.
White Paper: Itanium® processors are optimized for Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing, enhancing parallelism for superior performance.
White Paper: New Intel® Itanium® processor has Instruction Replay technology, which identifies potential errors and corrects them almost instantly.
Case Study: AccuWeather* reduces app runtime by upgrading its environment with HP Converged Infrastructure*, improving service and forecasting.
Case Study: Dutch mobile communications provider KPN handles fast-growing transaction volume with less costs and greater performance using HP.
Case Study: MøllerGruppen reduces operation costs, minimizes business disruption, and provides a platform for growth with a HP mainframe migration.
Case Study: HP servers provide reliable development trading system for Shanghai Stock Exchange, enabling growth for real-time processing, security.


text:
ST. LOUIS — After months of drought, companies that ship grain and other goods down the Mississippi River are being haunted by a potential nightmare: If water levels fall too low, the nation's main inland waterway could become impassable to barges just as the harvest heads to market.
Drought threatens to close Mississippi River to barges, grain shippers
Thursday, November 29, 2012 | 8:32 p.m. CST
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If you'd like to read more about the value of being a member, read this column from the Missourian's executive editor, Tom Warhover.


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Progressive. Professional. Personalized.
The Master of Arts in Professional
At William Paterson University
Master's Project Presentations, May 2nd, 6 pm, in the Martini Room in Hobart Hall
Daniel J. Baker: "Understanding the Role of the Campus Tour in the College Decision-making Process"
Izabella M. De Souza: "Understanding Social Media Marketing in Luxury Retail"
Beverly Gaines: "In as Few Words as Possible: A Study on the Impact of Textisms on Formal Writing of Undergraduate Students"
Mauren O'Keefe: "How Has Pinterest Affected Social Commerce?"
Mark Piro: "An Analysis of How Financial Services Companies Use Social Media to Communicate with Consumers"
Peter Schauer: "A Case Study of Bill Simmons"
Expert Roundtable: Advance Your Career through Social Media & Strategic Communication
Communication Graduate Roundtable 2012
Expert roundtable sponsored by Professional Communication graduate program was successfully held at William Paterson University on June 19, 2012.
Topics included new digital media trends, social media tactics as well as effective career networking strategies.
Our faculty members shared their expertise on digital/social media and ProComm alumni discussed how ProComm graduate program has helped them succeed in their career and academic development.
Master's in Professional Communication students among WPU's graduating class of 2012
On May 22, William Paterson University's Commencement ceremony was held at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford. The Communication Department was proud to participate in the ceremony and proud of the graduating MaProCom students who worked so hard to complete this program. Click the link to view the MaProCom graduation gallery.
Expert Roundtable: Advance Your Career through Social Media & Strategic Communication
Register now for this expert roundtable and graduate program information session to learn effective career networking strategies, new digital media trends, and the tactics that will help you succeed in your social media efforts.
This event will take place on Tuesday, June 19 at 6pm in University Commons Ballroom C. Admission is free, and the $50 application fee will be waived for attendees who apply to the
M.A. in Professional Communication Program at this event.
Guest Speaker on Media Law and Ethics
Cathleen M. Lewis is currently Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations at AAA New Jersey Automobile Club. She has also served as Senior Public Information Officer, and Legislative Liaison at NJ Motor Vehicle Commission representing the MVC to members of the State Senate and Assembly during Governor Corzine's Administration. |
Guest Speaker on Social Media Policy, Communication Law and Ethics
Melissa Bass is a specialist in social media policy and digital communication. She serves as an adjunct professor in digital media and public relations for William Paterson University. She also works full-time in the corporate communication department at Wyndham Worldwide where she manages digital communication and is responsible for the development of strategy, oversight and management of content and analytics for all corporate online properties including consumer and employee facing sites, as well as social media. Prior to this, she held numerous positions in social media and corporate communication with companies including Toys"R"Us and Sony Corporation of America. She holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in communication from Rowan University. |
Guest Speaker on Lobbying, Communication Law and Ethics
William Murray runs MWW Group's regional and national public affairs practice. He has more than 30 years of experience in directing and conducting public relations, public affairs and government relations campaigns for clients in a wide range of industries and on a variety of issues. He specializes in campaigns that focus on impacting public policy; building and mobilizing third party advocates at the state and federal level, and directing supporting media relations programs. MWW Group is one of the nation's top mid-sized public relations and public affairs firms and one of the ten largest independent global agencies. It is the largest communications firm in New Jersey, and is headquartered in East Rutherford, NJ. |
Guest Speaker on Music Copyright, Communication Law and Ethics
Dr. E. Michael Harrington is a consultant in music copyright/IP, social media and technology issues. He has worked as expert witness in hundreds of music copyright infringement matters involving artists such as the Dixie Chicks, Woody Guthrie, Steve Perry, Collin Raye, Tupac Shakur, George Clinton, DJ Danger Mouse, Patty Loveless and others. He has delivered more than 150 lectures to law schools, organizations and universities throughout North America including Harvard Law, the Texas Bar, Boston Bar, Montreal Pop, the European Film Commission, IBS, CMA and others. |
Click the above link to see the interview.
Warren Buffet holds Q & A with select William Paterson students in attendance
William Paterson graduate students from Communication and Business visited with Warren Buffet in Omaha on Jan. 13. Following a 2-hour long question and answer session, Mr. Buffett took everyone to lunch. Two WP students, Steve Parsons and Nicholas Bowman even got the chance to ride to lunch with Mr. Buffett in his car. The trip was an event hosted by Warren Buffett in which six universities were invited to participate.
William Paterson University
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, New Jersey 07470
Website Comments: Contact Web Team


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Hours Pier Maps FAQs Group Sales Getting Here Parking Directions Public Transportation Trolley Buy Tickets Online Disability Services Guest Services Hotel Partners Choose Chicago Navy Pier Home |
Visit Navy Pier - Getting Here - Directions Navy Pier is accessible via a wide variety of public transportation options, and also offers on-site parking. Click here for a route map to the on-site Navy Pier garages. Following is a list of options to consider when visiting Navy Pier. BY CAR.
Chicago Regional Map | Chicago City Map |
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COLUMBIA — Brooke Wright wore a long-sleeve red leather top with matching red jeans.
Rodeo queen competition not for everyone at Missouri High School Rodeo Finals
Wednesday, June 13, 2012 | 9:02 p.m. CDT;
updated 3:31 p.m. CDT, Thursday, June 14, 2012
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* Unlimited access on your iPhone, iPad, Android phone and Android tablet
* All the high-quality, in-depth journalism of the Columbia Missourian and Vox Magazine, updated 24/7
* Your news. Your device. Your time.
If you'd like to read more about the value of being a member, read this column from the Missourian's executive editor, Tom Warhover.


text:
Defense Dept. reportedly in deal for more than 600K iOS devices
The U.S. Department of Defense plans to purchase more than half a million iOS devices, according to a new report.
Citing "well-placed sources," Electronista says the government plans to purchase 120,000 iPads, 100,000 iPad minis, 200,000 iPod Touches, and 210,000 iPhones as part of an effort to update and mobilize its technologies.
As for the timing of such a deal, Electronista suggests it would happen following the current sequestration.
Apple declined to comment on the report, and the Defense Department did not immediately return a request for comment.
Last month the Department of … Read more


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By Staci DaSilva
12-12-2012 isn't just a date to Dolly Loetscher.
Born on December 12th, 1912, Dolly's given name was actually Matilda.
But being the first born in her family, to her parents, she was more than a baby, she was a doll.
"Oooohhh, that little doll. I don't know, other babies must have been homely," said Loetscher.
And the name kind of stuck. Before her other siblings were born, Dolly learned the meaning of labor working on her family's farm.
"I didn't get a life like most kids did," said Loetscher.
She'd go on to have 4 siblings and later, 2 children of her own: her son, Edward and her 72-year old daughter, Barbara Blau.
So what does she think of her mother's epic 12/12/12 celebration?
"It seems to be really cool because I wasn't expecting all this attention for her. We always wondered how old she'd get, you always do with your parents and we never ever expected this," said Blau.
Dolly's century old memory lapses every once in a while, but special people, times and out of the ordinary experiences are unforgettable.
"She's an easy-going person, very likeable. I wish I could be more like that," said her daughter, Barbara.
We should all be a little more like Dolly, healthy, kind and with a full life in our path.
"Just like always, don't feel any different. Don't feel like I'm somebody else," said Dolly.
And why should she?
Dolly takes just 2 pills a day as a result of an ulcer a few decades ago. Besides that, she's never really had any serious illnesses.
She says her secret for being healthy for a century: hard work.


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Earlandson was honored for running that 300 hurdles race in 47.93, winning by 1.28 seconds and recording the state's second-best time. The honor could just as well have gone to Barkley Castro, who won the 800 by more than 71/2 seconds.
Allie Perry didn't do too badly in the pole vault, clearing a personal-best 10 feet, 3 inches. That beat her personal best by 3 inches and her season best by 9.
Winfield won four of five relays and Emily Cole took the long jump.
Abby Watson scored a shot put-discus sweep for Hurricane, which also got a 1,600 win from Emily Schwendiman. Watson led a 1-2-3 sweep in the shot, with Taneisha Sturdavent and Colleen Miller.
Peyton Panger of Capital took the 3200, and the Cougars won the 4x100 relay.
Capital took the boys championship, outscoring Ripley 91-84. Winfield was third with 67, meet host George Washington fourth with 57 and Hurricane fifth with 56.
Tristan Slater was honored as Most Outstanding Performer for his 13-1 pole vault. The Cougars won the 4x200 relay and Naquay Little eked out a big win the 100.
The individual winners were more spread out among Kanawha Valley schools. GW's Jacob Jackson won the 200 and 400 to take high-point honors, besting Buffalo's Dylan Rich by a half-point, 221/2-22. Rich won the 800 and 1,600.
St. Albans went 1-2-3 in the shot with Jacob Lomax leading the way, and Russ Henley gave the Dragons a win in the 3,200. Herbert Hoover's Tyler Hagewood won the 110 hurdles, Hurricane's Nathan Wendel won the long jump and Winfield took three relays.
Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130, dougsm...@wvgazette.com or follow him at twitter.com/dougsmock.


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Wednesday August 13, 2003
Discussion Question of the Week
First, I need to say Hi to members of the Perham High School Class of 1993. We had our 10 year reunion about 6 weeks ago, and yesterday, I received a memory book, full of what is going on in our lives and our thoughts and more. This website is mentioned in there, so if any classmates read this posting, please feel free to e-mail me and say hi! Kristi, if you look at this, the book looks great, the reunion was lots of fun, and it was great to see everyone again! Thanks!
To today's posting:
Did you watch the Twins game last night? I did, or at least most of it. Sure, I turned it to Big Brother 4 from 7-8, and I watched The Real World: Paris from 9-9:30, but that's why I have two TVs in my living room! I am so glad for The Real World because I only had to watch all those home runs that James Baldwin and JC Romero gave up to the Indians hitters on a 13 inch TV!
But, for me, the highlight of watching last night's game was seeing Jodi Mientkiewicz, Doug's wife, spend a full inning in the broadcaster's booth with Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven. First, I have to say that she is a very attractive individual. Interesting choice of shirts, but it works on her.
But, I figured that seeing Jodi Mientkiewicz should inspire me, should make me want to be a better man! So, I'm going to write today about the charities that Doug and Jodi Mientkiewicz help out with, and a couple others that are out there. I'm not going to ask anyone to donate any money, but if you want to, I'm sure that the agencies would be very appreciative.
And, if Jodi Mientkiewicz reads this, and decides to like me, or even e-mail me (Jodi, please click here to do so), that would just be an added bonus.
Last night, she was in the booth to discuss an event that she and Doug have set up for the evening of Wednesday, September 3. It is called a "Night of 1,000 Heroes". It will be a dinner which will be attended by Doug and Jodi Mientkiewicz and other Twins players and coaches. The auction will include memorabilia gathered by Mientkiewicz himself. The purpose of the event is to raise money for the Parker Hughes Cancer Center in Roseville, MN. The mission of the center is: to eradicate cancer through outstanding integrated programs in patient care, research and education.
The Parker Hughes Cancer Center is a part of the Parker Hughes Institute, and organization meant to eradicate cancer, AIDS, and other diseases of the immune system.
If you are interested in attending the Night of 1,000 Heroes event, you should call (651) 796-5400.
Doug Mientkiewicz also hosts a fishing tournament for charity earlier in the season.
The impressive thing about the Mientkiewicz's is that they truly seem to enjoy helping out in the community. It is apparent that they not only lend their names to organizations, but take the time and efforts and energy to help those causes.
Jodi Mientkiewicz is also a board member of the Twins Community Fund. The Twins Community Fund is a group of community people and people directly related to the Twins, including Jodi Mientkiewicz, Corey Koskie, and former Twins SS Roy Smalley. Their role is setting up programs and initiatives to help in the community, primarily for kids.
Here are just a few of the organizations that are funded via the Twins Community Fund:
Gotta Read 'Em - program to encourage reading for kids.
Fields for Kids - provides grants for communities to build or renovate youth baseball fields.
Rookie League and R.B.I. - Twins provide funding for youth baseball in inner cities.
Twins Care - Twins provide free tickets to kids and families.
2003 TwinsFest - Current and former Twins come to the Dome in February to sign autographs and promote the Twins.
Autograph Party - Check out this link and see their photos of the event, then be sure to check out my photo album for pictures of when I went to this event this year.
So, as you can see, the Twins Community Fund, the players, coaches and management all are quite active in the community in different ways. But there are other baseball related funds that are worth looking into. Players hold golf tournaments (as former Twin Kent Hrbek does for ALS) and play in softball tournaments (as Torii Hunter and Jacque Jones did this winter - Jones was the game's MVP!). They do a lot of good within a community that many times goes unnoticed, probably intentionally.
Not to give too much information today, but I got an e-mail from my cousin, Chris, yesterday with his lineup for the Discussion Question of the Week. In his lineup, his 9th hitter was a shortstop named John Henry Lloyd. I have to admit, not even I had heard of him, so I did a little research. It ends up the John Henry "Pop" Lloyd is a Hall of Famer. Tomorrow, I will go further into depth about this man's career. His numbers are truly astonishing!
I would encourage everyone to take a look at the Negro League Baseball Player's Association website. This organization has set up a fund to assist former Negro League players. These people paved the way for a lot of black ballplayers before the time when Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby helped integrate Major League Baseball. Check out how you can help this organization by sending a charitable contribution to the NLBPA.
If you know of any other Twins, or baseball-related charities that you would like to mention, send me an e-mail, and I'll be sure to promote it.
Rick Reed, hurt again. What's new? I guess he doesn't want to get traded, huh? The Twins put him on waivers, and no other major league team claimed him, so he could be traded by August 31. By this injury, he's lowering his (already low) trade status even more.
Joe Mays got the start in Reed's place. He really didn't do terribly, but certainly not spectacularly.
James Baldwin came in, and gave up 3 homers in just over an inning. I'm sorry, but is it just me, or does his stuff look incredibly hittable? The motion is awkward, the fastball is straight and not overpowering, the offspeed stuff is easy to pick up. Somehow he has had success in his career. I just wonder how he's a better option than Michael Nakamura, Grant Balfour, or even Brad Thomas?
JC Romero continued his terrible season, giving up another homer, and showing a lack of control.
It just wasn't a good game, and it's really unfortunate, because the Yankees came back and beat the Royals 6-0, so the Twins lost a chance to pick up a game on them. The White Sox defeated the Angels 10-4 to pick up a game on the Royals. So, the Royals have a half game lead on the White Sox and remain 2 ½ games up on the Twins. I realize the Twins aren't going to 'win them all', but you would like to think that the effort would be there.
Speaking of effort, how about that AJ Pierzynski, pinch-hit, 14 pitch at bat which ended in a strikeout? That was just a great at bat for AJ. The end result wasn't what he or the Twins hoped for, but that type of battle is really all you can ask for. I just wish that more Twins would put up that type of at bat throughout a game, not just in the 9th!
Tonight's game will be a match-up of the Twins Johan Santana versus the Indians Jason Davis. We all remember when Jason Davis threw at Torii Hunter a couple of months back. Maybe this will be a game where the Twins will be ready to hit!
Twins 6th round draft pick this year, Errol Simonitsch improved to 4-0 with a 7 1/3 inning outing on Monday night for Rookie League Elizabethton. He struck out 9 and walked 0! His season totals are really remarkable. He has pitched 37 innings, struck out 45, and walked just 4. (Nice K/BB Ratio, huh?) His ERA is just 0.97.
The incredible Barry Bonds hit his 36th and 37th homers of the season last night. The second was his 650th career home run! He's good. How good? Check this out!
In April, I went to the Twins home opener at the Metrodome. Before the game against the Blue Jays, the national anthem was sung by former Twins pitcher, Jim "Mudcat" Grant. Today, Mudcat turns 68! Grant played a total of 14 seasons in the big leagues, but arguably his best stretch of success came during his 3+ seasons with the Minnesota Twins.
Grant came to the Twins on June 15, 1964 from the Cleveland Indians for P Lee Strange and 3B/OF George Banks. In 1965, he was an All-Star and started three games in the World Series. On November 28, 1967, Grant was then traded from the Twins to the Los Angeles Dodgers for C John Roseboro, P Bob Miller and P Ron Perranoski. Perranoski ended up being an important piece in the Twins success for a few years after that. So, in both cases, the Twins got the better of the deals!
Check out Mudcat Grant's stats with the Twins, compared to the rest of his career:
1964 |
26 |
23 |
166.0 |
11 |
9 |
2.82 |
36 |
75 |
1965 |
41 |
39 |
270.3 |
21 |
7 |
3.30 |
61 |
142 |
1966 |
35 |
35 |
249.0 |
13 |
13 |
3.25 |
49 |
110 |
1967 |
27 |
14 |
95.3 |
5 |
6 |
4.72 |
17 |
50 |
Twins Totals |
129 |
11 |
780.7 |
50 |
35 |
3.35 |
163 |
377 |
Career Totals |
571 |
293 |
2,441.7 |
145 |
119 |
3.62 |
849 |
1,267 |
For his career, Grant's ERA is 3.62 and his ERA+ was 100. ERA+ of 100 means average, so Grant's overall career was very average. The league ERA for that time was 3.63, so he was under that by a very small margin.
But 1965 was a special year for Jim "Mudcat" Grant and the Minnesota Twins. Grant made the All-Star team, was 6th in the MVP voting. Led the league in wins with 21, shutouts with 6 (and Home Runs Allowed, with 34, but that's OK!). He finished second in the league with 14 complete games, and 3rd in Innings Pitched.
The Twins faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. Mudcat Grant pitched three games in the series, all against Don Drysdale. In Game 1, Grant and the Twins got the better of the Dodgers with an 8-2 win. In Game 4, Drysdale got the better of the Twins and the Dodgers won 7-2. Both pitchers came back for Game 6, and Mudcat Grant was the hero. He not only pitched a complete game, but he hit a 3-run homer, in the 5-2 win! That led to the exciting Game 7, which pitted Sandy Koufax against the Twins Jim Kaat (Check out my review of the Jim Kaat autobiography).
Before coming to the Twins, Grant pitched from 1958-1963 with the Cleveland Indians. After leaving the Twins, he went to the Dodgers, but in the remainder of his career, Grant pitched for the Expos, Cardinals, A's, and Pirates.
So, Happy Birthday Mudcat Grant!
I've had a few really good responses to the below question already, so be sure to e-mail me your thoughts! Check out last week's Discussion Question report to see the type of report that I am talking about.
Again, here are the rules:
1.) Take a look at the below question and think about how you would answer it.
2.) Send me an e-mail letting me know how you would answer the question.
3.) Check back every day, and if you have further ideas, e-mail me again!
4.) For sure, check back on Friday and see what other responses I received.
Without further ado, this week's Question of the Week:
If you ran a baseball team, and had all of the players ever to have played the game at your disposal (in their primes, not at the current age or living status), what lineup would you put on the field?
Have a Great Wednesday!


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Chris Finley's artwork has always been luridly contemporary, holding a slightly cracked mirror up to the baroque excesses of modern culture. He samples from the things that touch his life, juxtaposing the intimate with the remote in an attempt to make sense of it all. With his latest installation, "Fluttersuckers," Finley sharpens his sights to take on specific targets, from the credulous superstar SpongeBob SquarePants to the cunning bottom feeders of the Bush administration.
Though he uses many media, Finley has always characterized himself as a painter rather than a sculptor, and the paintings in this show are his strongest yet. A dazzling panel titled Moths is a study in frozen motion, a swarm of frenetic lines meticulously rendered in sedate shades of brown, sage, and khaki. Though the composition appears to be resolutely abstract, its source was a photograph of nine of President Bush's present and former Cabinet members, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Colin Powell. Finley subjected their craggy likenesses to heavy doses of computer-assisted image manipulation, tweaking them until their faces essentially imploded. I imagine the artist cackling with satisfaction as he made Moths, finally able to control the forces that make him feel powerless.
The painting's finish is flawless, as slick and unruffled as our fearless leaders' comb-overs. Finley painstakingly built up translucent layers of acrylic paint over a period of months, achieving a surface that faintly glows. Rather than faithfully replicating the computer's composition, as he has in the past, he's begun to work more intuitively, allowing the insectoid character of these tragically powerful figures -- so fatally drawn to false sources of illumination -- to emerge directly on the canvas.
Moths and its diminutive companion piece, Ticks (which bloats and puckers Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton's fat-cat mug), exhibit remarkable confidence and maturity. The snarky adolescent prankster in Finley hasn't handed in his slingshot yet, though. A digital print hanging opposite Moths features scores of names harvested from the San Francisco phone book: Laura Boozer, Shura Bigchik, Ann Baldasseroni, Peter Mycock, and countless other victims of cruel parentage are rounded up for ridicule. Gratuitous? Yup -- but I sure snickered.
The most inscrutable work in the show is undoubtedly Up Country, a large wooden bier upon which SpongeBob lies prostrate, pinned under a swarm of sea urchins carved from golf tees, still grinning like a fool. The platform's surface is covered with pages from Nelson DeMille's Saigon-revisited saga Up Country in which every word has been compulsively circled. If there's meaning to be found here (and a host of twisted narratives do suggest themselves), it's pretty obscure.
Much of Finley's past work demanded physical participation, asking the "viewer" to scramble, jump, and head-butt his way through obstacle courses reminiscent of video games. Now the artist is approaching interactivity in a more subtle way. Straight Up, Now Tell Me is a large pole stuck, Excalibur-like, into a fake rock. The pole is wrapped in yards of thin yellow rope, over which teeters a stack of hundreds of puzzle pieces, all topped by a sphere plastered with explosive red caps (which bear an uncanny resemblance to the "sold" dots used by galleries). This is a sculpture about unrealized potential -- raw elements ripe for transformation. If you lift the rock up, a disc underneath instructs you to e-mail the artist the circumference of your head, which Finley will use to create an as-yet-undetermined sculpture.
The puzzle pieces in Straight Up ..., Finley tells me, form an underwater seascape filled with fish. "Fishing is a theme in the show," Finley says via e-mail. "Bait, Lure, Catch, Solve. Discover. Below the surface. I could go on ...." The titular "fluttersuckers" take physical form in a series of catfish crafted of shrink plastic, with moth wings where their dorsal fins should be. They're misguided hoverers with a taste for sewage, sad creatures that embody all the negative characteristics of Finley's targets. The fluttersuckers parade over one wall of the gallery, caught in a receding grid of lures crafted from wooden balls that are kissed with dabs of silver acrylic and threaded with the artist's gray hairs. Below each row are columns of digits clipped from the White Pages. The checklist teases the observer to "Solve the riddle to win a fluttersucker." I called the first few numbers on the list, hopeful that I'd connect with a clue, but abandoned hope after being greeted by busy signals and answering machines. As Finley moves from physical games to conceptual puzzles, he'll need to work a little harder to keep the viewer hooked.
One final bit of bait rounds out the show: a sentimental sculpture that has only past and future forms, but no present. Baboon, a 1969 chiseled sculpture made by Finley's father a couple of years before Chris' birth, rests quietly on the gallery floor. It's a solemn, amorphous lump of rock that sits in uneasy symmetry with Finley's faux stone. The sculpture isn't for sale, but upon request, the artist will cast it in bronze. Like Straight Up ..., this is a work about potential. "It's a piece about possibility and the unknown," Finley says. "I want to catch a viewer who is intrigued enough by the piece to make it exist in the future."


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