VICTORIA — After a hard-fought PR campaign, truckers in B.C. have convinced the province to ease the implementation schedule for the upcoming Renewable and Low Carbon Fuel Requirements.

The controversial biodiesel mandate isn’t being bumped from its Jan.1 2010 deadline, but officials have agreed to gradually phase in the blending requirements over three years rather than enact the rule all at once.

The catch, though, is that the province has expanded the regulation to spur distributors into "find(ing) how best" to reduce the "carbon intensity" of fuels by 10 percent.

That doesn’t necessarily mean a B10 standard or close to it for the future, but it’s not out of the question.

Other options for achieving that standard may include other biofuels, hybrid vehicles, flex-fuel vehicles and fuel cells. Carbon intensity can also be reduced at refineries by improving efficiency and reducing on-site greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the government states.

Originally, the renewable rule required fuel suppliers to produce a province-wide "pool average" of B5 (5% biodiesel) beginning in the New Year.

As Today’s Trucking first reported last April, truckers and fuel suppliers were concerned that the "pool average" would leave the actual blend at the diesel pump free to vary based on customer demand.

So, some customers with buying power would be able to demand lower biodiesel, or none at all, leaving suppliers no choice but to ship blends even higher than B5 elsewhere.

As the B.C. Trucking Association pointed out at the time, higher biodiesel blends, which can be problematic for older diesel engines in colder climates, would have winded up in some, more remote areas during the winter.

After months of lobbying by the trucking group, the government has apparently acknowledged some of those concerns. The biodiesel diesel requirement will now be phased in with a 3 percent target for 2010, 4 percent cent for 2011 and 5 percent by 2012.

"This results-based requirement provides industry with flexibility in choosing how best to comply," the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources stated in a press release. "This phased in approach will provide industry with the time to put the necessary Canadian supply infrastructure in place, and address technical issues regarding the cold weather properties of biodiesel … which may limit the use of biodiesel."

In an email to todaystrucking,com, BCTA President Paul Landry said his members are "very pleased that the government has responded to the industry’s concerns with a significant compromise to its original renewable fuels requirement. Starting a biodiesel phase in for diesel at three-percent over the next year gives carriers time to adjust to the change without threatening operability and engine manufacturer’s warranties."

The five percent renewable requirement for gasoline-ethanol in 2010 remains unchanged.