Environment committee  The authorities for groundwater are provincial authorities, so that would be a question the provincial government would answer.

Environment committee  That is correct.

Environment committee  I'm not an engineer, so I couldn't describe in detail the engineering. But essentially they're looking for material to line the ponds.

Environment committee  I'll let Dr. Wrona describe the research program.

Environment committee  I can take that question. With respect to deciding to make a specific regulation under any of our legislation, we have to look at whether there's a likelihood of a source that is not currently controlled. In this case the Government of Alberta has a zero discharge permitting policy that is enforceable from their perspective.

Environment committee  I'll make just two points, if I may, Mr. Chair, to correct a misperception I may have left with respect to the Fisheries Act. If you make a regulation under the Fisheries Act, essentially that allows a level of discharge. That's the nature of the regulation-making power. Otherwise, it's prohibited.

Environment committee  As far as we know, we haven't been involved with that UN study. I haven't seen it, so I don't know if they cite some of our published literature. All of our science, of course, is published in peer reviews. I don't know if they've used that or not.

Environment committee  The chemicals in the tailings ponds are not being released into the environment, so most of the NPRI reporting would be related to air emissions in the oil sands area.

Environment committee  I'll let my colleague Monsieur Tremblay répondre à cette question.

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm here today on behalf of Environment Canada and my colleagues to describe to you some of the roles and responsibilities that we have as they relate to oil sands and to describe some of our priority work in this area. As you well know, the management of the environment is a shared jurisdiction between the federal and provincial governments.

Environment committee  If land is designated as critical habitat, the act prohibits the destruction of that critical habitat. That's why we have to be precise about what is critical about that habitat. What can you not do? If you use the woodland caribou as an example, does it mean you cannot cut a tree in the boreal forest?

Environment committee  The act has a two-stage process for identifying and protecting critical habitat. So if the government put in an order on private land to protect that critical habitat, the farmer would not be able to plow that field, unless for some reason the minister could be certain it would not have an impact on the recovery of the species.

Environment committee  That is not defined. The minister has to make those judgments in the context of the regulations. Given our other priorities for working under the act, we have not yet developed proposed regulations under that authority. It will be an area where I think there will be more attention in the coming year.

Environment committee  There is compensation allowed under the act where there are extraordinary losses. So there has to be a demonstration of what the extraordinary losses would be.

Environment committee  As I said, I don't think it's a question of certainty. We never have certainty in science. In the environmental field we're quite used to operating with a degree of uncertainty. But if you don't know if that species even nests there.... The piping plover example was very instructive.