The ethanol industry is bound to take off.
And when it does, it’s bound to take off in Saskatchewan.
At least those are the premises behind the creation of an ethanol industry task force by Saskatchewan Agrivision Corp.
“It’s an industry that could grow dramatically across this part of the world and really be a huge economic engine,” said task force chair Lionel LaBelle.
“And Saskatchewan is the most likely place where it would be produced, just because of our grain-based economy.”
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The 14-member task force of farm and business leaders is to prepare a public report by late January outlining its recommendations on how to proceed with ethanol development.
And LaBelle said that while he doesn’t want to pre-judge the outcome of the task force’s work, there’s no doubt the group will urge the federal and provincial governments to do what’s necessary to get the industry up and running in a big way.
“The key word is aggressive,” he said.
“We want to develop this in our province in a very aggressive manner.
“At the end of the day, if this is managed properly, we believe there will be anywhere from six to 10 ethanol plants in Saskatchewan, and maybe more as time rolls on.”
The task force will also develop a “template” that local communities can use to figure out such things as how much money they’ll need to spend and what kind of infrastructure and services are required to get involved in the ethanol industry.
LaBelle said nearly 30 Saskatchewan communities are spending time, energy and money looking at ethanol proposals. In some cases they are paying large sums of money to consultants.
The task force report won’t identify particular regions or communities where ethanol development should take place. But it does want to provide local groups with as much information as possible so they can make informed decisions.
“We just want to help them out in not wasting money,” LaBelle said.
Ethanol development isn’t a new issue in Saskatchewan. While there is only one ethanol production facility in the province – Pound-Maker Agventures at Lanigan – industrial promoters, farm groups and governments have talked in glowing terms about the industry’s potential for years.
Now some of those groups are saying the industry’s time is finally coming.
Interest in ethanol has been increasing in the United States, fueled by a growing concern about reliance on Middle East oil, environmental issues, and the creation of new markets for farm commodities.
Also, a growing number of U.S. states have passed laws making ethanol mandatory in automotive fuel blends.
LaBelle said the U.S. market for ethanol is expected to grow to 4.6 billion litres by the end of 2004 from 1.6 billion L in 2000. California alone is a potential 500 million L per year market.
Saskatchewan could be selling 300 million L of ethanol right now, he said.
“There is a market tomorrow morning for six plants in the province,” he said.
“The problem is the longer we wait, the faster capacity is filled, particularly on the American side.”
The provincial government set about creating an ethanol policy blueprint last spring, with a report to be completed by this fall.
That didn’t happen, and LaBelle said Sask Agrivision hopes its task force report will give the province the “courage” to take steps to promote ethanol development.
“We’re saying the government needs to make an announcement, needs to have a strategy, and we think we have a pretty good idea what that strategy should be like.”
