Letter: Riverview will create needed ultra-low-sulfur diesel

What does British Columbia and Dale, Ind., have in connection? British Columbia has a marine-life problem, and Dale, Ind., has a solution in development that can solve it. The advanced-energy solution that Riverview Energy’s Dale plant will produce can be the answer to helping save the southern and northern resident killer whale population – in addition to addressing many of the world’s energy challenges.

While, yes, Dale isn’t anywhere near British Columbia or an ocean body, yet the ultra-low-sulfur diesel the Riverview Energy plant in Dale will produce can be crucial in converting global marine shipping to a fuel source that doesn’t discharge warm, acidic washwater from ship fuel scrubbers into the ocean.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the washwater from scrubbers discharge sulfur which wreaks havoc with marine life, causing liver problems and reduced fertility in fish. The WWF reports that in 2017, global marine shipping dumped 35 million tons of scrubber washwater into the ocean, including into habitats that are crucial to resident killer whales.

And the global shipping industry is under the gun to clean up its act. With new fuel regulations beginning in 2020, the shipping industry will be forced to seek new fuel sources. ULSD is a prime solution to the global shipping industry’s incoming spike in demand for clean fuel. And those challenges aren’t anything to dismiss – as the global shipping industry makes up more than 80 percent of the global trade volume, and 70 percent of its economic value.

Riverview Energy, via its Dale plant, will bring fuel production into the 21st century and redefine the energy industry with a cleaner fuel – one that is cleaner than the prevailing ULSD on the market today.

That advantage will translate to the larger U.S. transportation industry, and increase U.S. energy independence that safeguards our nation from geopolitical shocks, and closes the price gap between other fuels.
 And all of this is possible – right from Dale, Ind. A small town that will have a big impact on the world.

That impact will, in turn, produce big rewards for Dale and southern Indiana in terms of more and high-paying jobs, tax revenue, and a clean, innovative use of Indiana’s own natural resources.

Dale, you have an opportunity to show up in the world and contribute to something big. We at Riverview Energy look forward to making that future happen with you, together.

Greg Merle
President
Riverview Energy