This is actually the first time we are bringing it up. The actual tax law that exists has been in place for five years in the U.S. It was designed for the automotive and other sectors that would mix any type of renewable fuel--that could be ethanol or anything else--with fossil fuel. If they did that, it would, in essence, be a good environmental practice, and therefore they would qualify for these tax credits.
What the pulp industry has figured out in the U.S., just recently, basically in November of last year, is that if instead of just burning the black liquor they add diesel to their black liquor, they can now qualify for these credits. And they're going back for the many years that this has been in place. So it's a real sudden jump, and it's something that's happened quite recently.
The irony in the whole thing is that it's not a very environmental practice if you don't have to burn fossil fuel but you're adding it in order to meet the qualifications.
This is all new for us. We've just sort of taken note of the challenges it's going to pose for us. We're going to work with the other associations. We've been in touch with them, and we're going to be putting together some briefs and letters and the like as we move forward. But a note from this committee as to the importance of it....
As our colleagues in B.C. were saying, it's a substantial reduction in their costs. If it's $200 or $175 on what you can get for your pulp, that is substantial, and our side of the border won't be able to compete.
All our sawmills depend on our pulp mills purchasing chips. There's a real interdependence in that, and this puts our whole industry in real jeopardy.