OTTAWA — Another study casts some doubt on the net benefits of biodiesel — this one a government study in Canada — and a group of carriers are using it to question Ottawa’s plan to implement a biodiesel mandate in this country.

According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance, a study conducted in 2009 by EcoRessources Consultants (ERC) for Environment Canada, takes some of the wind out of the national biodiesel proposal.

The study, obtained by the CTA, concludes that the societal costs of a proposed federal two-per cent biodiesel (B2) mandate would outweigh the benefits by a factor of five.

CTA had called for a cost-benefit analysis to raise awareness of the issues confronting the trucking industry should a biodiesel mandate be introduced.

The ERC study, says CTA, adds credence to concerns that such a policy is really a boost to the farming industry masked as an environmental initiative.

Plus, there are still a number of operability issues associated with biodiesel that are unresolved, says the carrier group.

There have been several studies in recent years that show the environmental impact of producing biodiesel — by clearing crop land and forestry and shifting food supply to the fuel market — would undercut most, if not all, of biodiesel’s carbon reduction benefits.

According to ERC, "the total incremental cost to society of the proposed biodiesel regulation for on-road use would be $4.5 billion between 2011 and 2035, whereas the benefits, in the form of reduced GHG emissions, are valued at only a tad over $860 million."

"On a regional basis, Western Canada would take the biggest cost hit at about $1.8 billion, followed by Ontario at $1.3 billion and Quebec at more than $450 million," points out CTA.

The trucking industry, the single largest consumer of diesel, would ultimately be burdened with the bulk of the incremental costs.

ERC also said it was “probable” that higher and more volatile fuel prices may be experienced in the first few years after introduction the biodiesel mandate.

David Bradley, CTA’s president and CEO, says "the study only adds to the questions that exist over why the federal government would pursue a biodiesel mandate."

“The industry and society would get a much bigger bang for its buck by working with the industry to implement our enviroTruck initiative."