|
Canada objects to US BL rebates
According to a report in BC's Vancouver Sun, federal Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt said the Canadian government is responding to the US black liquor subsidy to pulp mills by looking at support for Canadian pulp producers. She was speaking at the annual PricewaterhouseCoopers' paper and forest products conference in Vancouver in May. The rebate is expected to be worth between $US6 and $US8 billion for US pulpmakers, cutting $US220/tonne off their costs, about one-third of their total production costs. A Canadian program could cost $C1.8 billion. Raitt said Canada is not going to do anything similar to the American rebate, which she finds "offensive", according to the report. Donna Harmon, president of the American Forest & Paper Association, said it is not a subsidy but a legitimate rebate. "Our industry should get credit for the renewable fuel it is producing," she said. Without credit for its existing energy-saving measures, incentives coming on-stream for new clean energy producers will put it at a disadvantage, she said. |
|
|