Backpedalling on commitment | Mandates should be increasing, not shrinking, says outraged CRFA president
The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association says proposed changes to the renewable diesel mandate are a blow to agriculture.
“I am very disappointed in the changes that have been proposed here because it seems to be backing away from commitments that the government made to farmers,” said CRFA president Scott Thurlow.
The federal government has proposed extending a temporary ex-emption from the two percent mandate for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island by another year to Dec. 31, 2014 because the Maritime provinces need more time to comply.
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Ottawa also intends to eliminate the mandate for heating oil because the renewable content is too expensive for some families in Eastern Canada who use diesel to heat homes.
The government estimates the proposed changes to the heating oil mandate would reduce demand for renewable fuels by 69.3 million litres in 2013 and an average of 43.9 million litres per year between 2014 and 2035. The CRFA estimates it will reduce demand by 80 million litres per year.
Thurlow believes both measures are unnecessary and represent a retreat from commitments to the environment and to farmers.
“What the (Maritime) extension does is that it rewards the laziness of East Coast blenders for not getting ready to meet the mandate,” he said.
“They’ve had 36 months to prepare for this mandate and they have taken exactly zero action. We should not be rewarding that.”
He was similarly outraged by the removal of the mandate for heating oil.
“There is absolutely no justification financially for this waiver to occur,” said Thurlow. “My position is we should be increasing the mandates, not shrinking them. Shrinking the mandates in Eastern Canada will affect western Canadian farmers.”
Proposed regulation changes were published in the Canada Gazette on May 9. The public has 60 days to provide comment on the changes.
When the federal government announced the renewable diesel mandate in June of 2011 it said the legislation would be “good news for our farmers and the environment.”
Thurlow said the proposed changes are bad news for farmers.
“The mandate was designed as a business risk management tool so that (farmers) have new markets for their products,” he said. “I think that this is a step in the wrong direction and the government should be looking at increasing the mandates as they are in the United States.”
The U.S. is approaching a mandate of five percent blend for biodiesel.
