These are excellent questions, and very well expressed. I appreciate it; I'll try to do them justice.
First, with respect to the magnitude or quantum of research, Syncrude spent $1.5 million this year. Collectively, with other companies plus matching funding from NSERC, the scale of reclamation research in the oil sands today is about $5 million per year.
The nature of the research very much speaks to the concerns you've expressed. Is the soil quality sustainable, and in particular, is the land surface safe? Are there going to be things happening that result in a landscape that is not satisfactory in the sense of being safe for people and animals?
The way we approach that is through the concept of an instrumented watershed. The reclamation material—the top layer—when we first place it is natural. We harvest it from in front of mining and place it in the reclaimed areas. Then the question is, is it at risk of change? On day one it is in fact safe; that is known.
The concept of an instrumented watershed is a large enough patch of reclaimed land that we can understand the flows of water—surface water, subsurface water—and therefore the movement through the landscape of other things such as salts, or perhaps any contaminant that might be there. The intent is to confirm that our standard practices protect the soil layer. It all hinges on—you expressed it very well—the soil starting off satisfactory, and if the processes in the landscape are acceptable, then the long-term outcome will be acceptable.
Yes, it is a very long-term matter, so the question of custodial transfer back to the Crown and the timing of it and its completeness are important. We believe it will be a long time. We believe we will be documenting the behaviours of landscapes for many decades—for argument's sake, 50 to 100 years—before it's evident that the situation is acceptable.
Even there, it may not be a full custodial transfer; it may a custodial transfer supported with some ongoing funding or ongoing monitoring. As I say, we have about 30 years behind us. When I talk about 50 to 100 years, what I'm saying is that it could take another 20 years, or another 50 to 70 years, for us to fully demonstrate to the people of Alberta and the people of Canada that a custodial transfer back to the Crown is an acceptable risk for the public, for the people of Canada.