Natural Resources committee  The work that was originally done was back in the 1990s, as you said. The conditions and the costs and the supply and demand are all changing, and this is exactly the reason we're looking at the economics of nuclear use in the oil sands for a broad spectrum of things, including hydrogen generation, and looking at it as an alternative fuel to reducing the energy intensity, in terms of carbon and so on.

Natural Resources committee  I'm not aware of the report you're referring to.

Natural Resources committee  I might add to that. You were asking about the technical capability. CERI did a study about two or three years ago on the capability of the basin, working with the Alberta Geological Survey, SNC-Lavalin, and Adams Pearson Associates. They evaluated the capacity of the reservoirs in Alberta and western Canada to sequester carbon dioxide, and again for tertiary recovery, which my colleague has talked about.

Natural Resources committee  I also think there exist more recent incentives, in the sense that the industry itself and the Government of Alberta are looking at the number of alternative fuels. To get to Mr. Bevington's issue about energy intensity, currently the amount of gas being used is an expensive process for the generation of steam and electricity.

Natural Resources committee  I'd first comment that CERI's role is to analyze alternatives and to inform public policy, not to recommend. We try, because we're an independent agency, to provide analyses of different situations, but we steer clear of recommendations because we want to retain our objectivity.

Natural Resources committee  The other thing is that when you have a four-to-one ratio of a multiplier effect, you also affect very mundane things like the number of teachers required to support schools, the number of health care workers to support the hospitals. If you're going to put that many jobs into the oil sands, it has a spinoff effect on those individuals needing to be supported, not simply in the province where the jobs are located but across the country.

Natural Resources committee  So the impact is very, very broad on a large number of sectors. I'm not being very specific for you, I know.

Natural Resources committee  If I could add something to that, the provincial government has jurisdiction over manufacturing, as this is in Alberta. So the AEUB and Alberta Environment also have some jurisdiction over that.

Natural Resources committee  If I might add to that, CERI is capable of doing exactly that kind of research, and we would willingly do that kind of research. We've looked at the cost side, in terms of the capital investment, operating costs, and so on. The other piece, which we haven't looked at, has been the socio-economic cost, but those are things we looked at in some specific areas for the Alberta government.

Natural Resources committee  If I might, I think it's not just because the demand is there; it's also that the oil price, globally, had increased over the last number of years. And the economic incentive was there because the revenue from the projects exceeds the costs of doing that business. So yes, you're right.