MONTREAL – Government briefing notes show Ottawa is rethinking its support of high biofuel blends.
Canwest News Service is reporting that a briefing note prepared for natural resources minister Lisa Raitt by her deputy minister warns the minister to exercise caution when it comes to promoting the production and use of E85 ethanol in Canada.
E85 is a blended fuel comprised of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. It can be used only in flexible fuel vehicles. Automobile manufacturers have received millions of dollars in credits for producing vehicles capable of using E85.
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Most blended fuel uses 10 percent ethanol, so E85 represents a big growth opportunity for the biofuel industry and the corn and wheat growers who supply it with raw material.
The Canwest report said 300,000 flexible fuel vehicles (FFV) are on the road but only four Canadian fuel stations are equipped to provide them with E85 fuel, meaning the vast majority are filling up with regular gasoline.
“Given that E85 (fuel) is not sold in significant quantities, these credits (to manufacturers) are not tied to actual greenhouse gas emission reductions because Canada’s FFVs are fuelled almost exclusively with gasoline,” said the briefing notes Canwest obtained through the access to information act.
“Thus, given the supply-constrained environment for ethanol fuel, there are disadvantages to promoting the use of high-level ethanol blends when compared to low-level blends.”
Gordon Quaiattini, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, said it boils down to the chicken or the egg debate. Something has to come first and in this case, the vehicles preceded the fuel supply.
He said the federal government introduced a pilot program aimed at convincing independent fuel retailers to offer E85 at their pumps, but it appears Ottawa hasn’t whole-heartedly embraced that policy initiative.
Government push needed
Quaiattini said the leaked briefing note should serve as a wake-up call to industry and government that further work needs to be done so that owners of flexible fuel vehicles can use them for their intended purpose.
“We’ve got some more work to do with government and our hope is they’re going to respond to what we think are some pretty reasonable ideas to have that infrastructure in place,” he said during a break in the Biofuels International Canada Expo & Conference in Montreal.
Quaiattini, who would like to see the government lead by example, said he has read stories that the chauffeurs who drive politicians in Ottawa in flexible fuel vehicles are not filling up with E85, even though there is a fully equipped station only five minutes away from Parliament Hill.
“They’ve got to be the users of choice,” he said.
