The SaskBio program was introduced a couple of years ago to provide capital loans of up to 10 million dollars to groups interested in building ethanol or biodiesel plants.

However . . . some groups could not meet the criteria to use the program.

So . . . the province is make three major changes.   

1) The percentage of minimum farmer or community investment is being reduced from 50 percent . . . down to 20 percent. 

2) It is changing the definition of ''eligible community investor'' to include anyone living or doing business in Saskatchewan.  Before . . . investors were restricted to 100 kilometres of the proposed project.

3) The minimum contribution per litre of biofuel produced will increase from two cents to five cents.

The President of the Saskatchewan Biofuels Development Council is pleased.  Judy Dyck says the changes will provide greater flexibility for the biofuel projects to access dollars in the provincial program and maximize equity for projects.

ENSASK in Tisdale is in the process of trying to raise enough capital for an ethanol plant.  CEO James Leier says "the announcement sends a signal to both larger companies and provincial investors, including local farmers, that Saskatchewan is an attractive place for biofuel investment." 

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