Province’s support of ethanol market raises questions
Re: “Construction underway on Hairy Hill ethanol plant,” The Jour
nal, Jan. 27. Let me see: a $50-million ethanol plant, the world’s largest, will use 110,000 metric tonnes of feed grain per year to produce 40 million litres of the lowest “carbon footprint” ethanol in the world.
Further, after distillation removes the starch of the grain, the high-protein waste becomes cattle feed and is piped to a feedlot that purportedly has enough cattle to produce 250 tonnes of manure a day, which will yield enough biogas to produce one megawatt of electricity a day.
First, considering the expense of land usage, seed, fertilizers, herbicides, wear-and-tear on equipment, depreciation, insurance, harvest, storage, transport and fuel, what is the projected cost per tonne to produce this low-quality grain?
What is the projected cost of production of one litre of ethanol inclusive of plant maintenance, skilled manpower and profit?
How much taxpayer money is going toward construction of this $50-million privately owned plant, to growers of the grains as well as ongoing production of the ethanol?
How many cattle does it take to produce 250 tonnes of manure a day and is this large privately owned feedlot paying for the high-protein feed that is considered waste from the ethanol plant? Or is this another subsidized private industry?
How much is the biogas plant, which relies on the feedlot, being subsidized?
It must be nice for the shareholders of the Hairy Hill ethanol plant to know that our provincial government has mandated a blend of up to 10-per-cent ethanol in our gasoline, thereby guaranteeing a market.
In the U.S., where nearly 40 per cent of the 2010 corn crop was made into ethanol, critics in the food-versus-fuel debate say using crops for fuel in a hungry world is immoral or inflationary for food costs.
When it comes to production of biodiesel in America, it costs $2 more per gallon than conventional diesel. Refineries must use it or face fines.
Is that where we are headed under the guise of renewable energy and a lesser carbon footprint?
Jerry Weigl, Edmonton