On July 8th, Growth Energy joined the U.S. Grains Council and Renewable Fuels Association in submitting comments to the Province of Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP) encouraging higher blending of ethanol fuel into their fuel stream and offering technical expertise on achieving a 15 percent renewable content in gasoline. The comments applaud Ontario for its progressive attempts to increase the renewable content of their fuel stream, but offer critical insight on how their current proposal will reduce demand for ethanol starting in 2021 through 2028, including:
- Avoiding ethanol demand destruction from carbon intensity pressure on North American ethanol;
- Building on sustained implementation after achieving a province-wide 10 percent blend;
- Adopting early action credits to incentivize Ontario producers;
- And offering a variety of blends at the pump to encourage retail adoption.
“Overall, we believe that there are a number of unintended consequences of the MECP’s proposed implementation of the 15% mandate,” the comments state. “For example, based on calculations by our technical experts, Ontario would result in reduced volume demand for ethanol from 2021 through to 2028. Our organizations are certain that the purpose of announcing the 15% mandate was to do the opposite: to encourage more rather than less blending.”
Read our full comments by clicking here.