By Brent Bosker

Iogen and Shell kill ethanol project

May 1, 2012 | 6:58 AM

A biofuel project once thought to be destined for the Prince Albert region is now dead all together.

In a joint news release Monday, Iogen Energy and Royal Dutch Shell announced that plans to develop a large scale commercial cellulosic ethanol facility in southern Manitoba have been scrapped.

The Prince Albert Pulp Mill site and Birch Hills, located south of Prince Albert, were at one time the preferred sites for the proposed project until it was learned last August that Portage la Prairie Manitoba had become the front runner.

Iogen and Shell appeared to have local politicians convinced the project would move ahead. Prince Albert MP Randy Hoback was quoted in a local paper in 2008 saying, he was “99.9 per cent” sure the project would happen.

Mayor Jim Scarrow also reffered to the project as at the “checks in the mail” stage during his State of the City Address in 2008.

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All three levels of government were involved in trying to bring the one-of-a-kind green energy project to Saskatchewan. An estimated 300 to 400 area farmers also signed straw contracts with Iogen.

Birch Hills reeve Earl Mickelson lead a local group that was in on-going discussions with Iogen for more than 10 years.

“Naturally, it’s a disappointment I think for the people that worked on it. But … if it isn’t to be, it isn’t to be, “Mickelson said.

“We know that we have all the bio mass they need, but maybe there are other reasons that they have for abandoning the project.”

Neither Iogen nor Shell gave any reason for pulling out of Saskatchewan.

The Ottawa based technology company said it was refocusing its strategy and activities – resulting in 150 layoffs and a smaller development program.

bbosker@panow.com