Ethanol fuels up

07/07/2005

The last pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place for the $86 million ethanol plant to be built in the northwest Brantford. The provincial and federal governments will help finance the plant and Ontario is making sure there is a reliable market for the cleaner-burning gasoline additive.

Integrated Grain Processors Co-operative will begin construction next spring in the Oak Park North business park north of Highway 403. When completed in 12 to 14 months, the facility will process 11.8 million bushels of corn a year into 125 million litres of fuel. The plant will create 35 high-paying jobs and $175 million a year in direct and indirect revenue.

The plant will provide a market for local corn and help reduce greenhouse gases and smog.

The ethanol industry has needed a push to gain momentum. On Wednesday, federal Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell announced $11.9 million in low-interest loans to IGPC, part of $46 million to help build or expand five ethanol plants across Canada.

Two weeks ago, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced a $520-million fund to help construct plants, hike production and help cash crop farmers over the next 12 years.

The goal is for gasoline to have an average five per cent ethanol by 2007.

Ethanol is good for the environment and will help Canada meet its commitments under the Kyoto accord. It’s rich in oxygen, which makes gasoline burn cleaner and more completely thereby reducing harmful emissions. And, because it’s made from corn, it’s a renewable resource.

Because the Brantford plant will be owned by a cooperative largely composed of farmers, there will be incentive to use local corn.

The IGPC plant will be the city’s only major industry not on municipal water. Some environmentalists are concerned that the plant will draw from an aquifer beneath the Grand River a vast amount of water – 1,400 litres per minutes. The plant will operate 24 hours a day and 353 days a year.

However, after tests were conducted on the aquifer, the Ministry of Environment issued a permit for IGPC to take the water. If problems arise, municipal water will still be an option.

Clean, renewable ethanol is they way of the future. Farmers, motorists and investors will all breathe a bit easier.