Federal environment minister David Anderson should be promoting the
ethanol industry more aggressively as part of his climate change
strategy, say leaders of the ethanol industry, opposition MPs and
influential members of the Liberal government.
Canadian Wheat Board minister Ralph Goodale is one of the critics.
In a much-criticized action plan on greenhouse gas reduction prepared
for a late-October federal-provincial environment ministers’ meeting on
implementing the Kyoto climate change protocol, Anderson proposed that
up to 35 percent of Canadian gasoline fuel contain 10 percent ethanol
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by 2010.
At present, six percent of the fuel sold in Canada contains ethanol,
although plants under construction, announced or planned would increase
that substantially.
Bliss Baker of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association was incredulous
at the environment minister’s caution.
He said it represents a “half-hearted” effort that underestimates
ethanol’s potential.
“I think privately, the minister is supportive and so I think he can be
moved and we plan to try to,” Baker said from Toronto. “The world is
embracing ethanol and we typically are doing it in a Canadian way of
half measures.”
There is similar unhappiness among Liberal MPs.
The party’s rural caucus has been pushing ethanol and Ontario MP Julian
Reed, an alternate energy advocate, dismissed the government strategy
as inadequate.
“To me, it was more cautious than I would have been, or more, I hate to
use the word, conservative,” he said outside the House of Commons Oct.
30. “We have the potential for much, much more. We could go to 100
percent of (gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol) in the same time
frame as this target.”
In an interview Oct. 31, Goodale defied the normal rule of not
challenging another minister by publicly criticizing Anderson’s goal.
“Ethanol can make a material contribution to a cleaner environment and
it can make a significant contribution to rural development and
agriculture diversification and jobs in rural Canada,” Goodale said. “I
would like to see us at least try for 10 percent of ethanol in 100
percent of our fuel supply by about the year 2015.”
He said the government goal would require the ethanol industry to
quadruple in size in eight years.
“I think we can do much better than that, quite frankly,” he said. “I
think we should be pursuing a target that is substantially larger.”
Goodale said there would have to be a plan to make sure that production
and consumption levels increased at the same time.
But an aggressive ethanol promotion would help Canada meet Kyoto
greenhouse gas reduction quotas and “have a tremendous spinoff benefit
for rural Canada,” he said.
If an error in planning is to be made, “I would err on the side of
pursuing targets on ethanol more aggressively.”
Reed and Baker said they believe Anderson can be convinced to overcome
the caution that they believe his bureaucrats are showing. Privately,
some ethanol advocates complain that the oil and gas industry has too
many allies within the natural resources department bureaucracy.
