Foothills - Farmers lobby for
ethanol plant
By Pamela Roth
Staff reporter
In an effort to deal with low grain prices, a group of farmers in the
MD of Foothills and Vulcan County are conducting a feasibility study in
hopes of building a large-scale ethanol plant.
Harold Hanson, a retired farmer in the Blackie area, is one of the five
members on the board that has commissioned a Calgary firm to conduct a
feasibility study to determine where the plant should be located and if
there will be enough water and grain to support it.
“It’s another market for our grain,” said Hanson. “The
only reason farmers are surviving is because they are getting larger and
larger. You can’t stop progress and say you liked everything the
way it was 10 years ago because that’s not going to happen.”
So far 85 area farmers have signed up in support of the project, however,
Hanson is expecting that number to reach 500. In order for an ethanol
plant to operate successfully, it requires a lot of water, (33 million
gallons per year, wheat (approximately 11 million bushels a year), and
must be located near a railroad.
The plant would cost approximately $90 million to build, with the government
expected to help fund portions of the project.
Ethanol plants are already dotting the U.S. landscape, and it is considered
the fastest growing energy industry in the world.
As of August 2006, the U.S. had 101 plants in operation with a capacity
of 4.8 billion gallons per year. Thirty-nine biorefineries are under construction
and seven are expanding to add more than 2.5 billion gallons of capacity
when complete.
Ethanol itself has been used since prehistory, most often as an alcohol-based
beverage, and can be made from biomass such as grain, corn, sugar, or
starchy vegetables like potatoes.
Ethanol-blended gasoline first appeared on the North American scene in
the 1970s and has come to be known as “Mother Nature’s fuel”
because it burns cleanly, cuts exhaust emissions and acts as a natural
gas line antifreeze.
The use of four billion gallons of ethanol in 2005 reduced greenhouse
gas emissions in the U.S. by 7.8 tonnes, the equivalent of taking 1.2
million cars off American roads.
Canada was one of the first countries to sign the Kyoto Protocol in 1998,
but meeting the emission reductions outlined in the agreement has been
put on the back burner by the Conservative government, whose party platform
was to ditch Kyoto and come up with a made-in-Canada approach to reduce
the emissions blamed for global warming.
Since ratifying Kyoto, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose revealed Canada’s
greenhouse gas emissions are up by 24 per cent — a far cry from
the Liberal government’s commitment to meet a target six per cent
below the 1990 levels.
The Harper government’s own Clean Air Act, however, would focus
on encouraging people to take public transit by offering tax breaks on
monthly transit passes and increasing the average ethanol content in 35
per cent of all gasoline and diesel fuel to five per cent by 2010.
Macleod MP Ted Menzies has put his support behind the local group’s
bid to build an ethanol plant in the foothills.
“I am absolutely supportive,” said Menzies on Friday. “It
is a good move and I will follow-up on it.”
Menzies said the United States has embraced the technology much more aggressively
than Canada and Canada must catch up.
“We can’t let the Americans capture this industry,”
said Menzies. “This is an opportunity for farmers.”
Menzies said the technology will be another value-added option for farmers
who can develop ethanol and biodiesel with various grains such as wheat
and canola.
He said that is all farmers want, an opportunity to make money with their
crops rather than relying on government hand-outs to make ends meet.
In addition, there are great environmental benefits which appeals to Menzies
as well.
Statistics Canada reported there are currently about 1,000 retail outlets
in Canada selling ethanol-blended gasoline, with ethanol sales totaling
approximately 240 million litres per year.
Despite the allocation of $46 million for the construction or expansion
or five ethanol plants across Canada, the country is expected to be producing
a total of about 1.2 billion litres of fuel ethanol per year by the end
of 2007.
The Alberta government has also added incentives to increase production
of bioenergy products.
Earlier this month, the province announced it would commit $239 million
over the next five years to strengthen and expand the province’s
bioenergy sector by encouraging manufacturers to bring more bioenergy
products to the marketplace.
An additional $30 million, three-year commitment will be initiated immediately
through a commercialization program supporting technology investment in
the province. That money will be used to support establishment of the
infrastructure required to market and distribute bioenergy products within
the market for fuel or electrical power.
So far, Alberta only has two large-scale ethanol plants with one in Red
Deer and one in Lloydminister.
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Cleansing the Big Rock
Blackfoot ceremonialists Allan Pard and
Narcisse Blood perform the rituals of a cleansing ceremony at the Big
Rock west of Okotoks. The Big Rock was damaged by vandals in August and
is of great spiritual meaning for the Blackfoot people. photo by Pamela
Roth
Okotoks - Blaze damages home
Fire destroys garage of home on Woodbend Way
By Pamela Roth
Staff reporter
Residents living in a Woodhaven neighbourhood were awoken to the sound
of sirens and flashing nights early Sunday morning as 14 firefighters
worked quickly to douse the flames in the garage of a home that had caught
on fire.
Emergency crews attended the scene on Woodbend Way around 1 a.m. on Sunday
to find an attached garage heavily engulfed in flames.
Within 15 minutes, firefighters confined the fire to the garage area and
doused the flames before it spread into the rest of the home, which suffered
heavy smoke damage.
Fortunately, the three occupants inside the home managed to escape unharmed.
Since the garage was drywalled, Okotoks Fire Chief Paul Kaiser said the
fire was basically confined to one area.
“There was a slight extension (of flames) into the roof attic area
which was knocked down fairly quickly,” said Kaiser. “It certainly
was a good quick knock-down. I would say the fire went out fairly quickly.”
The sound of sirens woke neighbour Vance Billey out of a dead sleep. Since
one of his neighbours had recently suffered a stroke, Billey admits he
didn’t think anything of the sirens at first until he looked out
of his bathroom window.
“I saw the flames on the garage going 40 or 50 feet in the air,”
said Billey, who immediately feared for the safety of his own home. “It
was concerning. It was so hot when I opened the window I could feel the
blast of heat coming in.”
Firefighters are not sure what sparked the blaze and are continuing their
investigation. With winter coming Kaiser reminded people to check smoke
detectors and furnace filters.
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In this issue...
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Makeover miscue
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Okotoks’ downtown does not qualify for Main Street program
• See News
Royal treatment
Trio of Okotokians
enjoying life in Calgary
• See Sports |
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