Environment committee  Some of the challenges in the application of the act that have arisen over the years have revolved around project scoping, for example. Many of the court cases that have arisen in the past have had to do with questions around whether the projects considered in environmental assessments have been scoped appropriately.

Environment committee  I'm not sure I can describe it in 20 seconds or less.

Environment committee  Okay. Certainly CEMA looks at more than just water. The CEMA springs out of what is called the regional sustainable development strategy that Alberta developed back in the late 1990s. Essentially, there were three main areas of investigation that CEMA was to follow up on; for example, sustainable ecosystems was one, cumulative effects on wildlife, and so forth.

Environment committee  It was...

Environment committee  The act came into force in 1995.

Environment committee  Nationally, yes.

Environment committee  In 1995.

Environment committee  I do not have that information with me.

Environment committee  Yes, those assessments probably began around that time.

Environment committee  As I explained in my presentation, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act is triggered when the government makes decisions regarding a given project. These are the triggers leading to our decision of whether or not there should be an assessment. I would not say that there was a delay in the assessment of oil sands extraction projects, but the only reason for any delay is that the assessment process relies entirely on these triggers.

Environment committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Before I begin, I would like to mention that I am accompanied by Mr. Steve Chapman, who is associate director of our western operations within our project review group. What I'd like to do in the time available today, Mr. Chairman, is talk a little bit about our federal environmental assessment process and specifically how it relates to the oil sands.