Regina mayor bullish on benefits of proposed renewable diesel plant

Regina Mayor Sandra Masters doesn’t understate the impact of a renewable diesel plant that’s proposed to be built north of the city.

“You’re looking at just an enormous transformational piece for the city,” Masters said after Wednesday’s executive committee meeting.

“(It’ll mean) economic development for the City of Regina, specifically in agriculture, agricultural byproducts and the coordinated efforts to use what we already have been doing here for hundreds of years.”

It’s not the first time a company has come to the city with a project like this, a company called True North Renewable Fuels proposed building such a facility earlier this year. Federated Co-op Limited (FCL) bought them out and is behind the current project, which could also include capacity for agriculture processing.

FCL is offering to buy 222 hectares of land from the city to build the plant next to its current refinery. On Wednesday, the executive committee voted to support entering a land purchase option agreement with the company.

Under the option, FCL would buy the land at market value at $24,711 per hectare or $5.48 million total.

The city would retain some land for the relocation of the rail tracks off Ring Road.

According to a report from administration, FCL says the economic impact of the project would be comparable to the True North one. That would mean creating about 1,500 construction jobs and more than 150 permanent ones.

“Pursuant to an economic analysis performed by Economic Development Regina (EDR) on the TNRF project, the plant would add approximately $0.62 billion to the gross domestic product of the Regina region annually and $1.85 billion in total economic impact impact in the region. This level of increased economic activity will indirectly support up to 1,900 jobs,” the report says.