Public information centre comes to the mall Wednesday
Feb 01, 2008 - 04:05 PM
By Jillian Follert
OSHAWA -- Efforts to build an ethanol plant at the Oshawa waterfront are gaining steam.
FarmTech Energy Corporation announced this week it will hold a public information event at the Oshawa Centre on Feb. 6, where company officials and consultants will be on hand to answer questions and gather feedback.
FarmTech has spent months studying possible sites for the $185-million plant, which would convert corn into ethanol for use as a gasoline additive.
Oshawa's port lands are the preferred location, president Dan O'Connor said.
"It's because of the logistics," he said. "That site has access to shipping and the GTA is the biggest market for ethanol."
While he acknowledges that many harbour stakeholders are hoping to move away from heavy industrial use at the waterfront, the FarmTech president says ethanol is clean and green.
"Because it's an additive to gasoline, many people lump them together, he said. "But it's actually a very natural process. If you're going to have industry, it's the cleanest industry you can have."
He also believes it could benefit the community by providing 50 direct jobs, up to 700 indirect jobs and 300 construction jobs during the 20-month building process.
A FarmTech brochure says the company is proposing to build a 12-hectare plant, which would be owned and operated by 800 community members as a co-op.
Before a plant could be built in Oshawa, council would need to approve an official plan amendment and a re-zoning. The proposed site for the plant is currently zoned "special waterfront," which permits a range of uses -- such as hotels and educational facilities -- but not likely an ethanol facility.
The Planning Act requires public consultation before council can vote on those changes.
Mayor John Gray and several councillors have said they are open to learning more, but are uneasy about the proposed location as the City pushes its vision for a people-friendly waterfront.
The recent FarmTech brochure says the plant would "be set back from the port, behind Gifford Hill. The height of the hill, adjacent buildings and landscaping, including trees and berms, will screen much of the plant from view."
Ethanol produced at the proposed plant would be sold as an additive to gasoline to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars.
The Ontario government had mandated that all gas currently sold in the province contain five per cent ethanol. By 2010, that number will jump to 10 per cent.
If approved, this would be the fourth fuel ethanol plant in Ontario.
The public information centre takes place at the Oshawa Centre from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6.
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