Remember Corn Cob Bob?
The goofy-looking mascot for the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association — a farmer’s body with a bright yellow corn cob head — was ubiquitous a few years ago. So was his creator Kory Teneycke, executive director of the association.
They showed up farmers’ markets, fall fairs and holiday celebrations promoting ethanol. Then they started appearing at political events alongside MPs and cabinet ministers.
It was one of the most effective marketing campaigns in recent memory. By 2005, three provinces — Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario — had set mandatory standards for ethanol in gasoline. In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it national; all Canadian gasoline and diesel had to contain 5 per cent ethanol. In 2008, he appointed he appointed Teneycke as communications director.
The ambitious 38-year-old lobbyist has moved on now. He is vice-president of Sun News Network. Corn Cob Bob has vanished.
But the consequences of their campaign live on, affecting farmers, car makers, gasoline retailers, drivers and even public transit users. In Ontario, regular gas typically contains 10 per cent ethanol, mid-grade gas contains has 5 per cent and premium has zero. (Diesel has 2 per cent.)
These requirements may have been defensible when corn was plentiful and using it as a fuel additive gave governments an easy way to cut fossil fuel emissions. Neither is true today. Corn prices are soaring after a severe drought in the U.S. Midwest and parts of Canada. It is now clear that converting corn into ethanol uses as much as energy as it saves.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has urged governments suspend their ethanol requirements. Beef, pork poultry and dairy farmers, who depend on corn to feed their livestock, are pleading for relief. And carmakers, who never liked ethanol in the first place — it reduces fuel efficiency — are renewing their complaints.
At the moment, the issue is on the periphery of the North American political agenda. But as consumers see sharp increases in their grocery bills — as early as next month — opposition to the use of food for fuel is sure to rise. Some U.S. pundits expect that to happen in the final leg of the presidential race. If they’re right, Canada won’t be far behind.
For Harper, this poses a political dilemma. Ethanol has been a boon for grain farmers creating a new market for their produce, raising crop prices and generating a new income stream. Oil refiners like it too. It allows them to buy field corn at wholesale prices — still much cheaper than sweet crude —– and sell it at gasoline prices. Most environmentalists support increased use of ethanol. And the still-powerful Canadian Renewable Fuels Associations staunchly defends the use of ethanol in gasoline.
Livestock and dairy producers, on the other hand, are struggling to feed their animals. Carmakers, who are required to meet ever-more-stringent fuel efficiency requirements, accused policy-makers of hampering them with ethanol-laced gasoline. Consumers are beginning to question the wisdom of burning food in car engines. .
Forty per cent of America’s corn crop — 30 per cent of Canada’s — is used for ethanol. The percentage will go up if Washington’s Environmental Protection Agency succeeds in its bid to raise the ethanol content of gasoline to 15 per cent; a move Canada would support, according to an aide to Environment Minister Peter Kent.
If all this seems distant, look no farther than Oshawa to see a community torn apart by ethanol. City council, backed by thousands of residents, is fighting fiercely to prevent FarmTech Energy from building a $200 million ethanol refinery on their waterfront. The chamber of commerce is eager for the 300 construction jobs and economic spin-offs the plant would bring.
The federally-controlled Oshawa Port Authority approved the project at a private meeting last month. There are allegations that several of its members have strong links to federal Conservative party. The mayor is calling for an ethics investigation.
It’s a lucky thing Corn Cob Bob is no longer making the rounds of Ontario’s fall fairs and farmers’ markets. He’d probably get the odd ripe tomato in the eye.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Carol Goar
The goofy-looking mascot for the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association — a farmer’s body with a bright yellow corn cob head — was ubiquitous a few years ago. So was his creator Kory Teneycke, executive director of the association.They showed up farmers’ markets, fall fairs and holiday celebrations promoting ethanol. Then they started appearing at political events alongside MPs and cabinet ministers.
It was one of the most effective marketing campaigns in recent memory. By 2005, three provinces — Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario — had set mandatory standards for ethanol in gasoline. In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made it national; all Canadian gasoline and diesel had to contain 5 per cent ethanol. In 2008, he appointed he appointed Teneycke as communications director.
The ambitious 38-year-old lobbyist has moved on now. He is vice-president of Sun News Network. Corn Cob Bob has vanished.
But the consequences of their campaign live on, affecting farmers, car makers, gasoline retailers, drivers and even public transit users. In Ontario, regular gas typically contains 10 per cent ethanol, mid-grade gas contains has 5 per cent and premium has zero. (Diesel has 2 per cent.)
These requirements may have been defensible when corn was plentiful and using it as a fuel additive gave governments an easy way to cut fossil fuel emissions. Neither is true today. Corn prices are soaring after a severe drought in the U.S. Midwest and parts of Canada. It is now clear that converting corn into ethanol uses as much as energy as it saves.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has urged governments suspend their ethanol requirements. Beef, pork poultry and dairy farmers, who depend on corn to feed their livestock, are pleading for relief. And carmakers, who never liked ethanol in the first place — it reduces fuel efficiency — are renewing their complaints.
At the moment, the issue is on the periphery of the North American political agenda. But as consumers see sharp increases in their grocery bills — as early as next month — opposition to the use of food for fuel is sure to rise. Some U.S. pundits expect that to happen in the final leg of the presidential race. If they’re right, Canada won’t be far behind.
For Harper, this poses a political dilemma. Ethanol has been a boon for grain farmers creating a new market for their produce, raising crop prices and generating a new income stream. Oil refiners like it too. It allows them to buy field corn at wholesale prices — still much cheaper than sweet crude —– and sell it at gasoline prices. Most environmentalists support increased use of ethanol. And the still-powerful Canadian Renewable Fuels Associations staunchly defends the use of ethanol in gasoline.
Livestock and dairy producers, on the other hand, are struggling to feed their animals. Carmakers, who are required to meet ever-more-stringent fuel efficiency requirements, accused policy-makers of hampering them with ethanol-laced gasoline. Consumers are beginning to question the wisdom of burning food in car engines. .
Forty per cent of America’s corn crop — 30 per cent of Canada’s — is used for ethanol. The percentage will go up if Washington’s Environmental Protection Agency succeeds in its bid to raise the ethanol content of gasoline to 15 per cent; a move Canada would support, according to an aide to Environment Minister Peter Kent.
If all this seems distant, look no farther than Oshawa to see a community torn apart by ethanol. City council, backed by thousands of residents, is fighting fiercely to prevent FarmTech Energy from building a $200 million ethanol refinery on their waterfront. The chamber of commerce is eager for the 300 construction jobs and economic spin-offs the plant would bring.
The federally-controlled Oshawa Port Authority approved the project at a private meeting last month. There are allegations that several of its members have strong links to federal Conservative party. The mayor is calling for an ethics investigation.
It’s a lucky thing Corn Cob Bob is no longer making the rounds of Ontario’s fall fairs and farmers’ markets. He’d probably get the odd ripe tomato in the eye.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Carol Goar
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