OTTAWA — Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has unveiled alternative fuels package that requires two percent biodiesel blends in diesel and heating oil by 2012 and five percent ethanol mixture in gasoline by 2010.

According to Canadian Press, the $345-million federal announcement — based on the pending Clean Air Act, also includes $200 million to subsidize new factories to produce ethanol, biodiesel and other biofuels, and $145 million for research and development.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel, made in Canada mainly from soy and canola, which can be burned in any standard, unmodified diesel engine in pure form (B100) or in a blend with petroleum diesel.

CTA insists that any biodiesel mandate on trucking
should be better researched before becoming law

“We know that cleaner fuel means less pollution,” Ambrose said, who added the proposal will cut greenhouse gas emissions by about four megatonnes each year.

Although the previous government made no mention of a biofuel mandate while in power, Liberal environment critic John Godfrey said his party would push biofuels even harder than the Conservatives, setting a 10 per cent target for renewable content.

Meanwhile road user groups like the Canadian Trucking Alliance have repeatedly insisted that any biodiesel mandate on trucking should be better researched before becoming law.

In response, the government has given the nod for a two-phase biodiesel research project set to kick-off in Alberta.

In anticipation of the federal renewable fuels strategy, a group of stakeholders — made up of members of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association and the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute — is gathering comprehensive data about the quality requirements of biodiesel blends used in Canada.

The work will involve laboratory testing followed by on-road long-haul fleet use, which will include use of 2007 engines running on Canadian General Standards Board 3.520 specification biodiesel blends. The field trial is confined to Alberta long-haul fleets as the Alberta climate will pose some of the most extreme challenges to biodiesel use. The biodiesel demonstration project is expected to get underway in early 2007, with project completion in 2008, contingent upon confirmation of financial support.

— with files from Canadian Press