Four years after the Conservative government first promised mandatory biofuel content rules for gasoline, they will take effect Dec. 15.
Government ministers promoted the Sept. 1 announcement as a boon to the environment and to farmers who grow crops that will feed biofuel production plants.
The ethanol rule will require “an average renewable content of five percent in gasoline,” reports an Environment Canada description of the new policy.
However, it does not mean the gasoline that consumers buy after Dec. 15 will necessarily contain renewable fuel.
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The five percent requirement is an annual average based on the total volume of gasoline imported and produced by a company in a year, said the departmental explanation.
“Ethanol is generally marketed as E10, a mix of 10 percent ethanol with gasoline, so we can expect that there will be gasoline sold with and without ethanol content.”
Diesel rules are expected to be published next year “subject to successful demonstration of technical feasibility under the range of Canadian conditions,” said the environment department.
Environment minister Jim Prentice said the renewable fuel requirements will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to four million tonnes annually, “about the equivalent of taking one million vehicles off the road.”
Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said it was an important development for farmers who grow the feedstock crops and the rural communities they support.
“This is a vital step in generating new market opportunities for our farmers and maximizing Canada’s high-quality resources to produce food and fuel for the world.”
The biofuel minimum-content requirement is part of a Conservative policy that includes $1.5 billion in subsidies to biofuel producers.
Critics of the policy, including the Green Party of Canada, argue it is a farm and rural support policy disguised as environmental policy. They question whether renewable fuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions considering the energy used to produce and transport the crops, process the biofuel and then transport it to refineries.
