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Biodiesel fuels worry in trucking industry

Believes blending rules introduced prematurely

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 03/24/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Four months after regulations mandating its use took effect, biodiesel is still not being blended into most diesel fuel sold in Manitoba.

But provincial and oil industry officials say the industry still has lots of time to meet the new requirements.

Effective last Nov. 1, diesel fuel sold in the province must contain an average of at least two per cent biodiesel -- a renewable, clean-burning fuel that can be made from oilseed, animal fats and other sources. The province has said it expects the new regulation to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 56,000 tonnes or the equivalent of removing more than 11,000 cars a year from Manitoba's roads.

Although the province warned last fall that it could take months for biodiesel-blended fuel to be widely available, none of the major fuel companies has yet to offer it. And a provincial official could only say that it would start being available "later this spring."

That has the Opposition Tories suggesting Manitoba jumped the gun in announcing the biodiesel mandate before the industry was ready to accommodate it -- simply to claim it was the first province to do so.

Meanwhile, Manitoba truckers are displeased at the prospect of having to buy higher blends of biodiesel as the industry plays catch-up to meet the provincial target.

"We anticipate that there is going to be higher percentages for longer periods of time during the year to make up the average mandate," Bob Dolyniuk, general manager of the Manitoba Trucking Association, said recently.

"Perhaps they (the government) should have waited until everything was in place and then introduced the (two per cent blended fuel) mandate," he said.

Jim Crone, director of energy with the provincial Innovation, Energy and Mines Department, said the government has given the industry time to adjust to the mandate. Under Manitoba regulations, all diesel sold between Nov. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2011, will have to contain an average of two per cent biodiesel. After that, compliance will be regulated on a calendar year basis.

Crone also assured the trucking industry that blends higher than five per cent biodiesel are not being contemplated -- although fleets may special order higher blends from suppliers.

Because of concerns that biodiesel thickens in cold weather, it's likely that companies will sell higher blends in the summer and little or no biodiesel in winter, he said.

During the 2007 provincial election, then-premier Gary Doer promised a five per cent biodiesel mandate by 2010. But the province later decided to take a more cautious approach following start-up problems with higher blends in the United States.

Manitoba already has one biodiesel maker -- Greenway Bio-diesel in St. Boniface -- capable of supplying all the industry's annual needs within the province. And two other Manitoba companies may soon be ready to join it, Crone said, noting that big oil companies can also purchase biodiesel from outside Manitoba to meet their needs.

An official with the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, which represents large fuel suppliers, expressed confidence that the industry would meet the government's biodiesel targets.

John Skowronski, the group's environmental affairs director, said his members have been discussing the mandate with the province for some time. "You can't just flip the switch and, bingo, you're there," he said of the work the industry needs to do to comply with the law.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 24, 2010 A9

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