Natural Resources committee  Thank you for your comments about the presentation. You've raised some very good points, but I'd like to paint a more optimistic picture than you perhaps outline. Yes, you're right. There is a rush to develop oil sands, but I don't think we'll see all of the oil sands proposals that have been put forward reach the construction stage, for a whole variety of reasons.

Natural Resources committee  I would say it's part of the reason for hearings like this: for you to hear a variety of different inputs and for you to be able to make your best informed judgments; to synthesize what I say, which I hope you all take as an absolutely neutral, agnostic, best public interest view, bearing in mind economic sustainability as well as environmental sustainability as a balance that must be achieved.

Natural Resources committee  The technology is there today. As I'm sure many of you know, carbon dioxide is being used as an enhanced oil field recovery agent by EnCana in southern Saskatchewan. Interestingly, we're buying the CO2 from the U.S. when we've got plenty ourselves, but that was the practicality of the situation.

Natural Resources committee  First of all, let me explain this graph of potential GHG emissions as if we use a business as usual case. If we simply say to continue on with the existing technologies and with more plants, that's what will happen. There will be modest improvements in GHG emissions, but an overall increase in the absolute amount.

Natural Resources committee  Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to come to speak to you this afternoon. It's certainly a pleasure to do so. Let me start by giving you a thumbnail sketch of my background. I'm a chemist and chemical engineer with too many degrees, who has had a pretty varied career in the venture capital industry as an entrepreneur.