Environment committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Before I begin, I would like to mention that I am accompanied by Mr. Steve Chapman, who is associate director of our western operations within our project review group. What I'd like to do in the time available today, Mr. Chairman, is talk a l

Environment committee  I'm not sure I can describe it in 20 seconds or less.

Environment committee  Okay. Certainly CEMA looks at more than just water. The CEMA springs out of what is called the regional sustainable development strategy that Alberta developed back in the late 1990s. Essentially, there were three main areas of investigation that CEMA was to follow up on; for ex

Environment committee  It was...

Environment committee  The act came into force in 1995.

Environment committee  Nationally, yes.

Environment committee  In 1995.

Environment committee  I do not have that information with me.

Environment committee  Yes, those assessments probably began around that time.

Environment committee  As I explained in my presentation, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act is triggered when the government makes decisions regarding a given project. These are the triggers leading to our decision of whether or not there should be an assessment. I would not say that there was

Environment committee  First of all, even if the federal government does not conduct assessments of oil sands projects, that does not mean that no assessment is being done. In fact, these projects fall under provincial jurisdiction. These projects should be assessed. As I stated earlier, our process i

Environment committee  Some of the challenges in the application of the act that have arisen over the years have revolved around project scoping, for example. Many of the court cases that have arisen in the past have had to do with questions around whether the projects considered in environmental asses

Environment committee  The actual coordination of environmental assessments, in the case of a joint review panel, for example, or in the case of a screening where both the federal and provincial processes apply is still being conducted by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. The role of Major

Environment committee  They are not a responsible authority for environmental assessments. They have been given by cabinet the role of providing some oversight of the environmental review and regulatory review of major resource projects broadly.

Environment committee  Mr. Chairman, I am not familiar with this specific project but if this pipeline is under federal jurisdiction and if it crosses streams, thus risking to impact fish habitat or navigation, this would be enough to trigger an environmental assessment by the National Energy Board, fo