I don't use the word “subsidy”; I use the word “investment”. When you look at government policy and the reason the federal government brought in the $1.5 billion ecoENERGY for biofuels program, it was driven in part not to subsidize the industry, but to create a competitive environment in which we could attract the necessary capital to build the production here. We could just as easily have moved ahead in a mandated market in Canada and have the biofuel find its way from Brazil and the United States and elsewhere, and not have the value-added production that rural communities are now experiencing with the plants that are operating, and those planned to go ahead in the near term. The government saw the need and wanted to create a level playing field, a competitive environment in which that private capital could find its way into the marketplace.
As I alluded to in my presentation, you're looking at between $1.5 billion and $2 billion of private investment in the industry beyond the federal program that exists, which will sunset in the next eight years. It's a one-time program; it has a nine-year shelf life, of which seven years of payment to qualified projects will exist, and then that program will sunset.
When you look at the economic return on that industry, when it's built to its fruition of $600 million a year, I think one would argue that's a good return on the taxpayers' investment in our industry, which we will provide going forward.
And again, over time, what is most important to the industry is the issue of market access. The mandate over time creates that opportunity for us that ultimately is more valuable to the industry over the long term.