Environment committee  Mr. Chairman, I have to apologize. I feel a little bit like somebody who's come to a birthday party without a present, but I wasn't aware that we had been asked to do a presentation, and apparently my staff were unaware as well. The upside, of course, is that it does leave more t

Environment committee  Maybe I could also say at the start that our area of expertise is on the energy efficiency programs, the ecoENERGY science and technology, and the ecoENERGY renewables programs. I would be happy to answer questions in detail on those programs or at least to commit to getting ba

Natural Resources committee  It is my belief that the clean air act tabled today, which gives Environment Canada the power to regulate not just greenhouse gases but also other air emissions, is on very firm constitutional footing. In other words, the federal government has the power to regulate the emission

Natural Resources committee  But it may be the case that in exercising those powers, under the protection of fisheries, for example, that has, as a side effect, a constraining influence on the development of the oil sands.

Natural Resources committee  Yes, absolutely. It's in my briefing book. And since it would be accessible under ATIP, I don't think I would have any problems in tabling it with the committee. It's not a....

Natural Resources committee  It's not a formal document, but I think if the department can tell me what our authorities and responsibilities are, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't inform Parliament as well.

Natural Resources committee  I'm referring to an excellent document from the National Energy Board, the 2006 updated energy market assessment. I'd be happy to provide you with the URL for it. Its estimate is that SAGD, the steam assisted gravity drainage, the supply cost, all-in cost, is $18 to $22 a barrel

Natural Resources committee  It's $18 to $22 for steam assisted gravity drainage and $18 to $20, so essentially the same, for mining. That said, I have an assumed natural gas price of $7.50 U.S. per million BTUs, and as gas prices went above that, SAGD would become relatively more expensive because there wo

Natural Resources committee  The capital cost is not trivial. But on the operating side--

Natural Resources committee  I used to pretend to forecast economic numbers, and I wasn't very good at it, so I'm not going to pretend to be able to forecast technology either. But I will just refer to a couple of things that are here and tangible, and almost ready to go, and one of them is gasification. Th

Natural Resources committee  That is what could be mined. What you might ultimately be able to recover from the oil sands is much larger than 174.5 billion barrels, depending on future technology.

Natural Resources committee  To be precise, the $125 billion, according to the project proponents, would be enough to increase production from about one million barrels a day to about 4.5 million barrels a day. So you'd get an incremental 3.5 million barrels a day for an investment of $125 billion, according

Natural Resources committee  No, because you'd have to make an assumption about whether they are going to build an upgrade or refinery complex in Edmonton. People have talked about it, but that's a different thing from doing it. There are many pipeline projects out there, so to get that figure you'd have to

Natural Resources committee  Yes, on both counts, is the answer to that, and there are public hearings to go along with that as well.

Natural Resources committee  The $125 billion, of course, is the private investment in the oil sands projects. It does not include the public investment you might need in infrastructure, for example, in the local municipalities, in roads, and in all that kind of stuff.