First of all, as my colleague Mr. Smith explained at the March 11 hearings, the process put in place under our act is a self-assessment process. Our agency is not responsible under the act for conducting environmental assessments, but rather the various departments and agencies that are required to make decisions concerning the projects. Our agency does not prepare the environmental assessment reports, but rather the various departments.
The purpose of those reports is to inform federal decision-makers. Ultimately, the process put in place under our act is not a decision-making process. Its purpose is to generate environmentally relevant information and to bring it together in a report containing findings and recommendations. At that stage, it is up to the various federal decision-makers to consider those recommendations and to determine to what extent it is appropriate to incorporate them in their decisions.