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Braya Renewable Fuels (Come By Chance refinery, Newfoundland and Labrador) suspended renewable-diesel production from January to June 2025 after the expiry of US federal blender's tax credits made the facility's economics unworkable, while retaining its roughly 240 full-time staff on idle status to permit a fast restart. The provincial government's CAD 25 million loan, announced on the eve of a provincial election call, is structured as a capped monthly drawdown (max CAD 3 million/month: up to CAD 2 million in labour-cost offsets and up to CAD 1 million in eligible non-labour costs) repayable over five years. Uniquely, the release notes that the province's existing environmental-indemnity liability to Braya will be reduced by the outstanding loan principal and accrued interest, effectively netting the loan against a pre-existing provincial contingent liability rather than extending fresh net exposure.
This is the second layer of Canadian public support for the facility, following a CAD 49.5 million federal loan in 2021 and a 2023 federal clean-fuels support announcement — consistent with the broader Western industrial-policy pattern of stacking federal and sub-national support for domestic clean-fuel/refining capacity exposed to US policy volatility (loss of the US blender's tax credit).
Severity is set at 2 (quant-anchored on the CAD 25 million loan size and CAD 3 million/month drawdown cap): meaningful support to a single facility but modest in absolute scale next to the multi-hundred-million/billion programs elsewhere in this theme.
capacity against US federal tax-credit volatility rather than let facilities close permanently.
further reduce the province's own contingent liability to Braya, an unusual netting structure worth tracking if Braya requires further support.
repaid as of the most recent reporting period.
US tax-credit conditions do not improve.