Robert Gallant, President & CEO of Greenfield Ethanol and Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds-Grenville, answer reporter’s questions after Mr. Brown announced up to $117.5 million of funding for Greenfield’s Johnstown location.
Johnstown – June 19, 2009 - Thanks to investments by the Government of Canada, GreenField Ethanol’s Johnstown facility will receive up to $117.5 million over seven years to support biofuels development.
Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds–Grenville, on behalf of the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources, and the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture, made the announcement today.
“Our Government is delivering results for families, farmers and businesses in Johnstown,” said Mr. Brown. “This funding will build market demand for agricultural products and create economic opportunities in our community while contributing to a healthier environment for all Canadians.”
GreenField Ethanol’s Johnstown facility will be receiving up to $110.2 million over seven years through Natural Resources Canada’s ecoENERGY for Biofuels program. This program provides an operating incentive — based on production levels — to Canadian producers of renewable alternatives to gasoline and diesel.
GreenField will also be receiving $7.3 million in repayable funding through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s ecoAgriculture Biofuels Capital (ecoABC), a $200-million initiative to increase Canadian renewable fuels production capacity and help farmers participate in this emerging market opportunity. Local farmers are investing a total of $8 million in this project, which will provide them with a new source of revenue and also broaden the economic base of the community.
Compared to gasoline, grain-based ethanol can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 40 percent on a life-cycle basis. For biodiesel, the emissions reduction can be as much as 60 percent.
“These investments will help GreenField Ethanol in our committed vision to help broaden Canadian's fuel choices through the use of innovative technologies and disciplined leadership,” said Robert Gallant, President and CEO of GreenField. “Not only will these investments strengthen the Johnstown community by supporting our plant facility, by saving jobs and by creating economic growth, they will also ensure an ongoing market for local area farmers.”
The ecoENERGY program will invest up to $1.5 billion over nine years to encourage a competitive renewable fuels industry in Canada. The Government of Canada is also creating new economic opportunities through the five-year $1-billion Clean Energy Fund and the $1-billion Green Infrastructure Fund, part of the Government’s Economic Action Plan.
Notes for Remarks by Gord Brown, M.P., on behalf of The Honourable Lisa Raitt, P.C., M.P. Minister of Natural Resources and The Honourable Gerry Ritz P.C, M.P.Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food about ecoENERGY for Biofuels Funding and ecoAgriculture Biofuels Capital Initiative Johnstown, ON June 19, 2009
It’s an honour to represent the Government of Canada here today, and a pleasure to be here today on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Today, we are here to mark another important step in stimulating our economy while moving towards a cleaner, healthier, more prosperous future for Canadians.
The investment we are announcing will generate economic activity in this region today, and for years to come.
They will also present real economic opportunities for our farmers.
And during this global recession especially, that is exactly what we need.
Canadians made that very clear in the unprecedented consultations that our Conservative Government held in the weeks leading up to our Economic Action Plan — we need measures that will stimulate our economy now to help improve the quality of life for Canadians in the future.
Our communities need to grow and our country needs investments that will create opportunity now, and lead to even greater opportunity as we weather this global economic recession.
That is what our Government’s Economic Action Plan is all about.
We’ve already started delivery of $62 billion in measures to protect Canadian families, create jobs now and strengthen our economic foundation for the future.
This Government is taking immediate action to protect workers and industries that have been hardest hit by this recession — extending EI benefits and job-training while making strategic investments in our economy.
We’re investing substantially in infrastructure to provide immediate economic stimulus and create jobs, for example, $1 billion for the Clean Energy fund and $1 billion for a Green Infrastructure Fund to support sustainable energy projects.
We’re providing real support to Canadians and Canadian communities that are being hit the hardest by this global downturn.
From infrastructure to energy efficiency, we’re making the investments that will create and protect jobs today, and build the foundation for a stronger Canada tomorrow.
In that sense, our Economic Action Plan furthers the approach that our Government has pursued for the past three years.
And the results of that approach are all around us — as serious as the situation is for so many Canadians, Canada continues to fare considerably better than many other countries.
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced, when he tabled the June Report to the House of Commons – Canada is best situated economically than all other G8 countries to weather this global economic recession. That is because we have invested strategically while being prudent in our investments.
In fact, according to the latest forecast from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we were not only among the last to fall into recession, but — thanks to the measures in our Economic Action Plan — we’ll also be among the first to come out of it.
Our ecoENERGY for Biofuels program and our ecoAgriculture Biofuels Capital initiative (ecoABC) are perfect examples of this approach — investment that brings results today, and that will deliver even greater dividends in the future.
With ecoENERGY for Biofuels, we are investing a total of $1.5 billion and with ecoABC, we are investing $200 million to increase our supply of cleaner fuels. These investments will reduce emissions, create new economic opportunities for Canada’s grain and oilseeds producers, and strengthen the economic foundation of communities across Canada.
I am very pleased to announce today that our Government will invest up to $117.5 million over seven years to the GreenField Ethanol’s Johnstown facility here in Johnstown to encourage the development of a strong, competitive Canadian renewable fuels industry: $110.2 million through Natural Resources Canada’s ecoENERGY for Biofuels Program and $7.3 million through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s ecoAgriculture Biofuels Capital Initiative.
This plant will produce 200 million litres of ethanol per year and will result in increased and diversified off-farm revenues for the eastern Ontario farmers investing in the project.
We are investing in opportunities for farmers and for communities, and we are also helping to ensure we can meet the requirements of our proposed cleaner fuel regulations — which will require in 2010 a minimum five percent renewable content based on the gasoline pool, and by 2011 or earlier, subject to technical feasibility, a two percent renewable content in the diesel and heating oil pool.
The coming regulations and the investments in biofuels that we are making with partners like GreenField Ethanol will make a real difference.
Compared to gasoline, grain-based ethanol can reduce GHG emissions by up to 40 percent on a lifecycle basis. For biodiesel, the emissions reduction can be as much as 60 percent.
The five percent regulation for gasoline alone can reduce Canada’s GHG emissions by as much as four million tonnes a year.
As we increase Canada’s renewable fuels production capacity, we’re going to make sure our agricultural producers can take full advantage of the emerging market opportunities.
The ecoABC initiative supports the construction of Biofuels production facilities that involve farmers as equity investors and that use agricultural feedstock to produce the biofuel. Farmers are investing a total of $8 million in this project, which will provide them a new source of revenue, and also broaden the economic base of this community.
We’ve also provided $500 million to Sustainable Development Technology Canada to establish the NextGen Biofuels Fund.
This will encourage large-scale demonstration projects of next-generation biofuel technologies — cleaner fuels from wheat straw and wood chips and other agricultural and forest by-products — opening yet more economic opportunities to our agricultural community.
These are the kinds of measures that will make a real difference for our environment and a real difference for our economy— right now and in the future.
That’s what we mean when we say our Government is taking a balanced approach to climate change — actions and investments that will help to ensure Canadians today and in the future continue to enjoy a healthy environment and a growing, prosperous economy.
Our Government is committed to working with farmers, with other levels of government, with private industry, and with all Canadians to reach our goals.
We’re making another instalment on our commitment to partnership today.
Our Government is very proud to join with GreenField Ethanol’s Johnstown facility in launching this project.
You’ve made a great commitment to the environment; you’ve made a great commitment to the economy of this province; and you’ve made a great commitment to this community.
We can see here today what we can accomplish together, and I know we’re going to do a lot more together in the future.
Thank you.
Notes for remarks by Bob Gallant, President and CEO, GreenField Ethanol Johnstown, ON June 19, 2009
Thank you for that kind introduction Michel.
And I want to thank you for the outstanding work you’ve done as the plant manager here in Johnstown.
We’ll spend a great deal of time today talking about the prospects for biofuels – the market opportunities that become clearer every day and what that means for communities like Johnstown and surrounding farm families.
Merci pour cette aimable présentation Michel.
Je tiens à vous remercier pour le travail exceptionnel que vous faites en tant que directeur de l’usine de Johnstown.
Nous allons passer beaucoup de temps aujourd’hui à parler de l’avenir des biocarburants – des possibilités de marché qui sont de plus en plus évidentes et de ce que ça veut dire pour des communautés comme Johnstown et les fermes familiales avoisinantes.
But I should also say that without strong management and outstanding staff – without someone like Michel able to keep this plant on focus and on course – that potential would never be realized. And all those broad benefits to this community would never be harvested. So thank you again Michel - and thank you to all those who work so hard day in and day out here at this plant. Your efforts are quite literally changing the future for the better.
Of course, I also want to recognize our friend Gord Brown. He has been a long time supporter of biofuels in general and GreenField in particular.
Successful businesses in emerging areas like this require smart and committed partners. We could not ask for a better partner in our efforts to grow beyond oil than Gord Brown.
Let me say it as plainly as I can – without Gord’s leadership, I don’t believe we’d be here for this announcement today. He’s been instrumental in championing the biofuels sector through tough times and good times alike.
So once again, thank you very much Gord.
Now, let me turn from the value of a good partner to the value of a good investment.
I’m here because I’m in the biofuels business and because I believe there is no better business to be in these days – whether that be as an owner, an investor or indeed, a producer.
We are quite literally, a growth industry.
The world needs renewable sources of energy. Oil is growing more expensive and more difficult to access each day. Similarly, environmental concerns are causing us to look for alternatives that diminish the burden we leave to our children and their children as well.
There are no magic solutions. And I don’t pretend that biofuels will replace fossil fuels anytime soon. But we are part of the solution. We are part of the answer and, best of all, we generate benefits for the economy, for the environment and for agricultural communities like Johnstown.
As United States President Obama said in his inaugural address, “‘We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.’
So there can be no question – Biofuels is no fad. It is no passing fancy. It is, to be certain, an industry of the future.
A future that burns brightly. A future that burns cleanly.
As everyone here knows full well, biofuels is the biggest change to take hold of agriculture in at least a generation. And over the next generation, it will also emerge as the biggest change to take hold of our energy sector.
It amounts to nothing less than a ‘bio-revolution’ – an economy where jobs and growth are created by the resources we grow and harvest as compared to those we extract and mine.
I believe that the bio-revolution taking place today will prove to be every bit as fundamental and far reaching as the information revolution that began in the early 1980s.
And at its centre are plants like Johnstown. Communities like this. And – above all else – farmers like those that live and work all around us.
Of course change of this magnitude does not occur without leadership. Without champions who are willing to take up the cause and force the future.
Which takes me back to Gord and today’s announcement.
Years before President Obama was on the scene, our government recognized the potential for biofuels – and they took steps to foster its success right here at home.
Today we welcome the results of that far sighted policy.
Thanks to the EcoEnergy for Biofuels program, Johnstown will receive up to $110 million in new funding. And a further $7 million will flow from the ecoABC program.
Together, these investments will make a tremendous difference. They will strengthen this facility – helping us to meet the needs of the marketplace which is thirsty for ethanol. They will help save jobs and create economic growth right here in Johnstown. And they will strengthen our financial outlook – increasing the sturdiness and sustainability of this plant.
Most important of all – they will ensure an ongoing market for local area farmers.
Let me put that into concrete terms.
Not so long ago, farmers here were forced to find buyers elsewhere for 13 million bushels of corn each year. Crops were being sent to Quebec, to upper New York State – to wherever a buyer could be found.
This plant requires 20 million bushels of corn each year – meaning that not only do we represent a reliable source of demand for local farmers, we are a growth opportunity.
Today’s announcement helps ensure that will remain the case for a good long while.
So let me conclude on this simple point.
Today is a rare win, win, win. It is good news for the economy. Good news for the environment. And it’s good news for farmers. Insert French version here
Taken together, that is good news for Johnstown. And good news for Canada.
Once again, let me repeat my thanks to Gord Brown – to Michel Smith and to everyone in this community who works so hard to make this facility such a clear success.
Dans l’ensemble, c’est une bonne nouvelle pour Johnstown. Et une bonne nouvelle pour le Canada.
Permettez-moi de remercier une fois de plus Gord Brown – Michel Smith et tous les membres de cette communauté qui travaillent si fort pour faire de cette installation un tel succès.
Merci.
Thank you.
