Environment Committee on Oct. 8th, 2014

[Chris Forbes]

What I would say in answer to that—maybe I should have answered it differently—is it depends on what actions one takes, what the implications, the impacts, will be. Again, for a provincial action that may or may not happen. I could not be in the position now of estimating what that might look like.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

No, I was speaking specifically to the categories in which the commissioner reported that you were working but had no figures. Do you have figures for those categories of estimations of what those are going to do for...?

[Chris Forbes]

If regulations are being discussed, and they're not in a state to be published or out for consultation, we don't tend to have a very precise number for them. Obviously, we think about what the impacts might be, because that's an important piece, but we don't have numbers on those.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Is there any information you can give us about what your forecast is, for the areas you're working in?

[Chris Forbes]

No, I don't think so, because those would be issues that are under discussion. They're either not fully developed or, if they were further developed, they would be issues that would be under discussion for cabinet consideration.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

So you're not willing to share that information?

[Chris Forbes]

Well, I either don't have it or I'm not able to. I'm not sure it has to do with my willingness.

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Mr. Hallman, on this question of which projects should be undergoing environmental assessment, recently we've seen in the in situ oil fields in Alberta some real serious environmental issues showing up with leakage. Has it changed the department's view about whether we should be doing environmental assessments of these projects, when we see that obviously we have problems that weren't anticipated in the development of these projects?

[Ron Hallman]

I'll stay away from the policy-related aspect of your question, but what I can say is that—

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Are you reassessing the project? Are you reassessing the in situ oil projects in Alberta to determine whether they need environmental assessment after the problems that have shown up in the Cold Lake field?

[Ron Hallman]

If the question is, “is the project list contemplated for changes at this time?”, the answer is no.

If I could speak about the project list just briefly, the project list has types of projects that are generally understood to have the greatest likelihood for significant adverse environmental effects. Then, one might reasonably ask, what if we didn't get it right? What if the project list isn't right?

What if there are some things on the project list where a reasonable understanding would be that there won't be adverse effects or that the effects will be negligible and can be managed through permitting or another jurisdiction? Well, there is a provision in the act that allows the agency to screen those projects out, so that we aren't expending resources and time and putting proponents through that work if it's not really necessary.

On the other side of the fence, one might say, well, what if there is a project for which there is not a designation in the project list, but really the evidence becomes overwhelming that there is the potential for significant adverse environmental effects? There is a measure in the act that allows the minister in those cases to designate that project—

[Dennis Bevington, NDP, Northwest Territories, NT]

Okay, but—

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Bevington. We've run out of time.

I think we've had a great run and were able to get a lot of information from our commissioner and our officials from the department.

I want to thank all of you as witnesses for being with us today.

Thanks to our committee members.

The meeting is adjourned.