Suncor Energy Products Inc. today announced that the company has received the final environmental approvals from federal and provincial governments for its ethanol production facility in St. Clair Township. Now that approvals from Natural Resources Canada and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment have been received, Suncor will start construction on the estimated $120 million facility immediately. Construction should be complete by mid-2006.
“This is great news for Suncor and for the Sarnia-Lambton community,”said Tom Ryley, executive vice president. “We can now focus our attention on safely constructing our ethanol facility.”
Suncor’s new facility, which will be located at Highway 40 and Rokeby Line in St. Clair Township, will employ 35 to 40 full-time workers and up to 250 construction workers. Once the facility is operating, it is expected to require approximately 20 million bushels of corn each year. Suncor will release more detailed information on the construction schedule and process when it becomes available.
Meanwhile, Suncor will work with its neighbours near the site and with St. Clair Township to ensure the effects of construction on area residents are minimized to the greatest extent possible. Traffic management and excavation fencing will also be used to ensure the safety of construction workers and plant neighbours.
Since 1996, Suncor has been blending ethanol into its retail-branded gasoline sold in Ontario. As a clean burning, renewable resource, ethanol helps reduce carbon monoxide emission up to 30 per cent. Suncor’s new facility will produce approximately 200 million litres of ethanol annually. Suncor will receive a $22 million contribution towards the construction of this facility from the Government of Canada’s Ethanol Expansion Program.
Suncor Energy Products Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suncor Energy Inc., an integrated energy company. In addition to a refinery in Sarnia, Suncor Energy Products has a network of 281 Sunoco-branded retail and Fleet Fuel cardlock sites and has a 50 per cent joint venture interest in over 200 Pioneer and UPI retail sites. Suncor Energy Products Inc. manufactures, distributes and markets transportation fuels, heating oils and petrochemicals primarily in Ontario. For more information, see the Sunoco website at www.sunoco.ca or www.suncor.com.
For further information contact:
Jason Vaillant
Suncor Energy Products Inc
519-383-3691