http://www.todaystrucking.com/scrap-ontarios-biodiesel-proposal-ota-urges
[currently, the 'Tories' (Progressive Conservative Party) are not the
government, but the major opposition party in Ontario]
Scrap Ontario’s Biodiesel Proposal, OTA Urges
Posted: Dec 22, 2013 11:33 AM | Last Updated: Dec 23, 2013 09:05 AM
TORONTO— The Ontario Tories are pushing forward with their proposed
biodiesel mandate and the Ontario Trucking Association is once again
pushing back.
The government wants to paint Ontario’s trucks and buses a brighter
shade of green with a biodiesel initiative that calls for a renewable
fuel mandate of 2 percent (B2) to come into effect between April 1, 2014
and December 2015. From 2015 onward, the mandate would increase to 4
percent (B4) biodiesel content.
But the OTA has cost concerns and questions the environmental benefit of
biodiesel regulation in light of GHG regulations the trucking sector
already has.
“The trucking industry has already undergone stringent EPA-mandated
engine emission regulations and faces further GHG-reduction and fuel
efficiency standards between 2014 and 2018 for heavy-duty diesel
vehicles,” the association wrote to the Ontario Ministry of Environment.
If MTO intends to explore an alternative fuels program within the
trucking sector, OTA says they should look at the development of a
liquefied natural gas (LNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) networks in
the province.
And what’s more, the proposed regulation is inflexible to trucking
because it exposes Ontario’s trucking industry to high contents of
biodiesel in the winter months and subjecting the fuel to gelling and
causing operational issues. Not to mention, there is currently no fuel
quality assurance when it comes to biodiesel.
The OTA claims the proposed regulation will cost Ontario carriers and
give little or nothing at all in environmental gain.
Based solely on the results of the federal government’s own cost benefit
analysis performed in 2011, a biodiesel mandate would cost the public
$2.4 billion over 25 years, OTA points out.
--
Darryl McMahon
Failure is not an option;
it comes standard.
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