Open Letter about carbon offset program

[furrowtickler]

I don't see the logic in willingly accepting pennies through regulation in a commodity bull cycle that could possibly limit productivity. Even if all the neighbors sign up, you could be leaving $'s on the table by limiting the number of bushels you produce. If you throttle production on land due to compaction for $20 in a govt handout, how many bushels do you need out of a tillage pass to recoup the subsidy today? There's a paradigm shift unfolding in grain prices.

Agree , and there will not be a premium on grain do to this regulation , but will be penalized to do status quo .

[chuckChuck]

https://www.producer.com/news/renewable-diesel-plant-proposed-for-regina/

Renewable diesel plant proposed for Regina
By Sean Pratt

Fundraising has begun on what could eventually be a $2.4 billion renewable diesel and canola crushing megaproject in Regina.

The City of Regina has committed $1 million for the front-end engineering and design phase of a project being spearheaded by True North Renewable Fuels Ltd., a Calgary energy company formed in 2018.

The firm needed that commitment to trigger another $5 million in funding from Agriculture Canada’s Agricultural Clean Technology Program.

The remaining $15 million for the study will come from True North.

The plan is to build a renewable diesel facility capable of producing one billion litres of the fuel per year, which amounts to about 20,000 barrels a day.

Renewable diesel is an advanced form of biodiesel.

“This is actually a direct replacement for fossil fuel,” said True North chief executive officer Douglas Cole.

“You can burn it at 100 percent in some applications.”

The plan is to use canola oil as the feedstock for the plant, but it could use soy oil, animal fats and used cooking oil. The plant would require one million tonnes of canola oil per year.

“That’s in excess of two million tonnes of seed,” said Bernie McClean, chair of the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission.

“Nice. That’s almost the size of the Japanese export market.”

He is pumped about the prospect of a renewable diesel project of that magnitude being built in the province.

Any time there is the chance for more canola to head to a homegrown market is a good thing because domestic demand is more stable than overseas sales.

“There can’t be non-tariff trade barriers. That’s a plus,” said McClean.

“Two years ago when China shut the door on Richardson and Viterra, that really highlighted how exposed we were.”

He was shocked to hear about the project because there has been no mention of it around the SaskCanola and Canola Council of Canada board tables.

Cole said the True North business plan hinges on Canada’s proposed Clean Fuel Standard creating a huge market for renewable diesel, just like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has done south of the border.

“We’d be the first of its type in Canada,” said Cole.

Cole and his business partner, Brian Adolph, have decades of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry.

The company has been working with Economic Development Regina and Protein Industries Canada to create a mega-project that would expand the scope of the project beyond the renewable diesel plant to include a canola crush facility.

“Their concept is an agricultural value-added complex, which would not only include the crushing but the potential for protein extraction as well,” he said.

Regina radio station CJME is reporting that the total value of the complex would be $2.4 billion.

Cole said True North would be responsible only for building the renewable diesel plant. The crush facility and protein extraction plant would be built by another firm.

“We’re in discussions with a number of companies. At this stage of the game all of those conversations are done under confidentiality agreements,” he said.

To put the scope of the project in perspective, Richardson International’s Yorkton, Sask., crush plant cost $170 million to build.

Richardson’s crush plants in Yorkton and Lethbridge, Alta., combined process 1.6 million tonnes of canola a year, producing 700,000 tonnes of oil annually.

The proposed Regina crush facility would produce one million tonnes of oil annually.

“It would be a big facility,” said Cole.

The protein extraction plant would produce a feed product for the aquaculture industry.

Cole said Regina is the ideal location for the megaproject because there is plenty of locally grown canola, not a lot of nearby crush competition and exceptional access to railways.

From a renewable diesel perspective, Regina would be able to service markets in Ontario and British Columbia without triggering an increase in life-cycle carbon intensity metrics.

McClean joked that his only reservation with the proposed location is that it isn’t close enough to his farm in Glaslyn, Sask.

Contact sean.pratt@producer.com

[chuckChuck]

The good news, so the proposed renewable diesel plant in Regina that could use up to 2 million tonnes of canola is a direct result of clean fuel standard.

"Cole said the True North business plan hinges on Canada’s proposed Clean Fuel Standard creating a huge market for renewable diesel, just like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has done south of the border."

The bad news, the word renewable appears in the plan. And since it is being proposed because of the Liberal clean fuel standard to help reduce carbon emissions and to fight climate change, I am sure most of the flat earthers and die hard "oil is the only way" advocates on Agrisilly will tell us because its "renewable bio-fuel" it won't work! LOL

Fire away!

[bucket]

The good news, so the proposed renewable diesel plant in Regina that could use up to 2 million tonnes of canola is a direct result of clean fuel standard.

"Cole said the True North business plan hinges on Canada’s proposed Clean Fuel Standard creating a huge market for renewable diesel, just like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has done south of the border."

The bad news, the word renewable appears in the plan. And since it is being proposed because of the Liberal clean fuel standard to help reduce carbon emissions and to fight climate change, I am sure most of the flat earthers and die hard "oil is the only way" advocates on Agrisilly will tell us because its "renewable bio-fuel" it won't work! LOL

Fire away!

The renewable diesel plant looks like a scam just like the proposed pasta plant. Once the shysters know where to come to put up the circus...they come because the clowns are already here....Look at Scott Moe.

[jazz]

The good news, so the proposed renewable diesel plant in Regina that could use up to 2 million tonnes of canola is a direct result of clean fuel standard.!

You think farmers are opposed to biodiesel? They have been crowing about it for 25 yrs and our govt just now finally gets around to investing in it.

But if I know the liberal govt, there will be a huge stick attached to all aspects of the CFS. Farms wont make a dime off this either.

[Hamloc]

The good news, so the proposed renewable diesel plant in Regina that could use up to 2 million tonnes of canola is a direct result of clean fuel standard.

"Cole said the True North business plan hinges on Canada’s proposed Clean Fuel Standard creating a huge market for renewable diesel, just like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has done south of the border."

The bad news, the word renewable appears in the plan. And since it is being proposed because of the Liberal clean fuel standard to help reduce carbon emissions and to fight climate change, I am sure most of the flat earthers and die hard "oil is the only way" advocates on Agrisilly will tell us because its "renewable bio-fuel" it won't work! LOL

Fire away!

My only concern is what happens when the renewable diesel congeals in my tank at -30 and my tractor or truck won’t run lol!

[Misterjade9]

Bio diesel, all for it if it works and increases demand. But you know, anything tied to the Clean Fuel Act, will have so many regulatory and bureaucratic hoops to jump through.

[jazz]

Well I guess good news for cattle guys. You can continue to sequester carbon and be recognized for it.

I can see where this is leading to for crop agriculture - you will likely have to cycle a cover crop into the rotation to get recognized for anything. Min till, less chem, conservation practices wont be on the future menu no matter how much we scream and shout.

https://www.swiftcurrentonline.com/ag-news/photo-new-pilot-project-to-focus-on-retaining-canadian-grasslands-using-carbon-offset-markets

One way or another farmers are going to lose income either by way of a carbon tax or by reduced yields.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

In regards to the cost estimates for the renewable diesel plant, vs the capacities as listed in the article.

Assuming Lethrbridge Richardson plant referenced in the article cost roughly the same as the Yorkton plant at $170 million, then this proposed plant capital cost will be 5 times more per unit of oil produced than the existing crush plants.

Is refining for fuel grade that much more expensive than for human grade oil? Inflation? Government money involved inflating everything? This huge extra cost has to cut into the margins, and therefore what can be paid to producers, especially when as of today, canola oil is worth far more than diesel fuel on a per energy basis.