Environmental Issues in
Northern Ontario
GREEN - Greater Renewable
Energy and Ecodesigns Now
Biodiesel
Sudbury is getting a
big dazzling green gift very soon from MP Ray Bonin. Both environment
and the local economy benefit say the politicians and proponents.
MP Ray Bonin has told
Bill Bradley that thanks to $1.8 million in federal funding, he secured
from Natural Resources Canada on Earth Day, April 22, Sudbury will be
home to an almost $4 million biodiesel plant, built by Topia Energy of
Ottawa.
“I expect to make an
official announcement in days, with complete details, so I wanted to say
I just need a few more signatures and it’s a go," said Bonin from
Ottawa.
As of May 2, the plant
approval has cleared both Natural Resources Canada and now Environment
Canada and is expected to be approved by Treasury Board next week.
“There will be 200 jobs
for farmers growing the crops needed for the plant, 5 jobs in the oil
seed crusher plant to be located close to farming communities like
Verner, and 8 jobs in the biodiesel plant itself,” said Bonin.
“For Sudbury this
biodiesel plant is prestigious. This is the beginning of a whole new
industry for Sudbury and the north,” he said.
The president of Topia
Energy, Govindh Jayaraman, agrees this is a great gift for Sudbury on
Earth Day.
“The fact that Ray
Bonin has accomplished this, getting the government support on this day,
Earth Day, underlines the fact that biodiesel is good for both the city
of Sudbury and the environment. Not only are harmful emissions from
tailpipes reduced from burning less diesel fuel in vehicles using the
biodiesel mix, but this plant can generate $110 million in economic
benefits for the region, mostly in Sudbury,” said Jayaraman.
“Ray has done an
amazing job getting this project through. For him it has been like
pushing an elephant up a hill, he had a lot of hurdles to face in
getting the plant approved.”
Jayaraman also said it
was a good thing the biodiesel plant is a go now before an election is
called.
“Our experience and the
experience of all businesses proposing projects is that once the
election writ is dropped, nothing happens in terms of approvals by the
bureaucracies. It is the politicians who push the bureaucrats to move
the paper work. When the politicians are out electioneering, everything
grinds to a halt. The plant could have been in jeopardy.”
To be completed by the
fall, the plant will manufacture green and clean fuels for trucks or
cars with diesel engines. The feedstock for the plant will come from
local farmers as they plant more oil seed crops like canola here and
soybeans on Manitoulin Island.
Mayor David
Courtemanche has said City of Greater Sudbury staff like Paul Graham and
Paul Finley have been involved in arranging the testing of biodiesel in
city buses and have promoted the private public partnership necessary to
get the project off the ground. City Council and the mayor, have also
been keen biodiesel supporters said Jayaraman.
The plant will leapfrog
Sudbury into being first in a number of ways said Jayaraman.
“This will be Canada’s
first biodiesel plant,” said Jarayman.
It will also be the
world’s first biodiesel building that uses advanced pre-fab straw bale
and integrated solar building technology developed by one of Canada’s
best green builders, Ben Polley of Guelph.
“Ben Polley is ready
and eager to get working on this project. He will be at the official
press conference to tell Sudbury about his plans. You couldn’t keep him
away,” said Jayaraman.
The biodiesel plant
also kick-starts the Kingsway Eco-Industrial Park located beside the
Sudbury landfill by being the first tenant for Sudbury developer Gil
Rinaldi’s 112 acre site. It will be first in the north and only one of a
few in Canada according to environmental consultant Steven Peck of Peck
and Associates in Toronto.
He has been following
the development of eco-industrial parks and green industry clusters
around the world and is impressed by EarthCare Sudbury’s Local Action
Plan. It focuses on environmentally friendly industries such as
biodiesel as an economic engine for the future.
“Sudbury is the leading
jurisdiction in Ontario in terms of this new kind of eco-development,
you’re really on the right track, you’re actually ahead of us in
Toronto,” said Peck.
bbradley@northernlife.ca
