The issues happening within the renewable fuel sector in the United States are not quite happening in the same dynamic here in Canada. As you know, there has been a series of bankruptcies and plant slowdowns in the United States. In part, that was driven by the fact that the industry grew at a pace that exceeded the mandated market within the United States.
For example, in 2009 the ethanol mandate, the requirement on the ethanol side in the United States, will be 9 billion gallons. In 2010 that number will grow to 10.5 billion. But in a world in which production capacity had been built to almost 12 billion.... Actually, it was probably about 11 billion or 11.5 billion, so their production build-out in fact exceeded that.
When the price of oil hit the range of $140 or $150 a barrel, ethanol was trading considerably more cheaply than gasoline, so what you ended up having in the U.S. dynamic was a lot more discretionary blending beyond the current mandates in the United States, because there was a price advantage. There was a margin advantage for oil producers in the United States to in fact do that.
With current demand overall coming down, the realities of that overproduction capacity, and the diminishing discretionary blending taking place, you have the current problems in the United States until the further mandate targets kick in.
In Canada, we don't have that issue. We haven't built out yet to our mandated targets. That's why we have argued, quite frankly, that we think we have a very balanced and measured approach in terms of developing the industry here in Canada, so we're not in a situation in which we have plants that are being challenged economically and are threatened with closure right now.
Are the economies tighter right now? Of course they are, but that, quite frankly, you could apply to every sector across the economy. We would be no different in this environment.