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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Province eyes biodiesel mandate this year

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 01/6/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

MANITOBA is poised to require the blending of biodiesel in provincially sold diesel fuel sometime this year -- ahead of a 2010 target.

"Our target is 2010, but if we can do anything to do something faster, we're going to do it," said Dan McInnis, a provincial energy official.

The Doer cabinet has yet to decide on the timing of an announcement, and McInnis refused Monday to estimate when a biodiesel mandate may take effect.

But he made it clear Manitoba intends to beat British Columbia -- its main competitor -- in becoming the first province to require its use. And B.C. is shooting for implementation by Jan. 1, 2010, he said.

"Manitoba will be the first province in Canada to implement a biodiesel mandate," said McInnis, Manitoba's assistant deputy minister of energy, climate change and green strategy initiatives, in an interview on Monday.

He said the province is close to licensing its first Manitoba biodiesel producing facility. That will likely be Greenway Bio-diesel, a subsidiary of Speedway International Inc., in St. Boniface.

Two other commercial plants under development -- one in the Interlake and another near Beausejour -- are also seen as potential local suppliers. A spokesman for Bifrost Bio-Blends in Arborg said recently his facility -- capable of producing three million litres a year -- will likely be ready for production by early February.

Manitoba's biofuels legislation requires the existence of at least 20 million litres of annual provincially licensed production before a mandate is introduced -- something Greenway Bio-diesel has the capacity to produce itself, its owner Royce Rostecki said in a recent interview.

Another hurdle is to ensure fuel distributors are geared up to supply the new product.

"The limiting factor right now is the blending facilities," McInnis said. "The tankage isn't in place at the large fuel distributors, and the actual blending pipes and valves... (are) not in place yet."

During the last provincial election, Premier Gary Doer promised a five per cent biodiesel mandate for 2010 that would create demand for 40 million litres of the biofuel.

Diesel is used by the trucking industry as well as in farm and industrial equipment and school and transit buses.

Widespread biodiesel use could be a boon to Prairie canola farmers, as canola seed is a prime feedstock. A year ago, Manitoba required the use of ethanol -- commonly made from wheat or corn -- in provincially sold gasoline.

The Harper government vowed some time ago to implement a national biodiesel mandate of at least two per cent by 2012.

Minnesota has required since 2005 that diesel fuel sold there contain two per cent biodiesel content. On May 1, that mandate will increase to five per cent.

McInnis said the government has yet to decide what level of biodiesel will initially be required in Manitoba fuels.

Meanwhile, the province's trucking industry wants assurances the quality of biodiesel-blended fuels will be up to par.

Bob Dolyniuk, general manager of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said he hopes the province will avoid the start-up problems that plagued Minnesota a few years ago.

Dolyniuk said his members also want sellers to be required to supply a uniform biodiesel blend -- rather than meet provincial targets through averaging.

"If it's an average, where you can have anything from zero to five per cent depending on where you purchase it, that gives us some concern," he said.

Dolyniuk said that in old trucks, biodiesel acts as a detergent -- cleaning out the fuel tank and lines, but plugging up filters.

"So if you're going on and off biodiesel, I'm not sure how the equipment would react to that," he said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

What is biodiesel?

Biodiesel is seen as a safe, non-toxic renewable fuel that can be produced from a variety of sources, including vegetable oils made from canola, soybeans and sunflowers. The province says if all diesel burned in Manitoba contained two per cent biodiesel, it would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 55,000 tonnes a year.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 6, 2009 C5

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