That’s good enough for me. Thank you.

Committee, we’re on 11-6, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, wildlife, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $335,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. We’re going to 11-9, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, forest management, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $1.770 million. Does committee agree?

Committee, 11-13, Environment and Natural Resources, activity summary, environment, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $130,000. Does committee agree?

Thank you, committee. If I can get committee to return to 11-2 for the department summary. Environment and Natural Resources, department summary, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $2 million. Mr. Yakeleya.

Just on this question here, I may be ruled out of line or order here. I want to ask about the infrastructure on the baseline studies. Has there been any type of monitoring from the department on the areas around the Sahtu that are going to do some oil and gas activity? The air monitoring quality, the water monitoring, is there any type of infrastructure that’s going in next year to help us with our decision on the oil and gas activity? I’ll just leave that in your judgement, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Yakeleya, that’s fair. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are working through the Environmental Studies Research Fund, which is funded in part by industry, to look at baseline information for wildlife, as well as baseline information as we do groundwater mapping. There is, in fact, a workshop going to be held in Norman Wells in November, and we’ve applied for money and we see this as an ongoing process that’s going to take some time. As well, industry has indicated a great interest in sharing all the information that they have acquired over the year as part of their various environmental assessment review of their projects.

I appreciate that, and I appreciate the update from the Minister. I want to inquire into if there is any type of infrastructure going there in terms of the monitoring of the quality of the air in and around the area as well as looking forward for the oil and gas resources.

In addition to the people and the resources we already have on the ground, we are also, as part of our community-based water monitoring strategy that we’re rolling out across the North, are putting in that capacity and working with communities to have that capacity, both in terms of the equipment to do the monitoring as well as the ability to use the equipment that is being put in. We’re looking at making sure all those pieces are linked.

I appreciate that, again, from the Minister. It sure helps me with questions I have from back home and from my people in regard to the initiatives some of the staff from ENR are going to do up in the Sahtu region, because we’re at the critical point of entering into possibly a huge oil and gas development in the future.

My last question will be this to the Minister, and it has to do with the wildlife, and we’re looking at the wildlife in the mountains west of Norman Wells and it’s close to the oil and gas exploration points of interest. Is the Minister looking at any type of monitoring on the impacts of sheep in the mountains because of the noise activity and possibly some of the air quality, just so that we have all our bases covered? I say this because Doh T’oi in our language means sheep nests. That’s where the mothers go to have their young, and we certainly don’t want to add disruption to that natural process that these animals have. Doh T’oi is just like the maternity ward at Stanton Hospital; that’s where all the mothers go and we want to make it as quiet as possible and there’s no disruption and there’s no after-effect as to how their young ones are going to be developing with our sheep here. That’s an important animal to the Sahtu people and it has special provisions in their land claims on the sheep there. That’s on the infrastructure. We’ll see

how we would… I can ask that question, I guess, and we’ll get an answer.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Just touching on the verge of monitoring and operations, so we’ll allow Mr. Campbell to respond to that.

Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Mr. Yakeleya.

I do appreciate the discretion on my question, and I will keep it to infrastructure. This is my last question here on the infrastructure that the Minister is going to be looking at. I’m asking for the infrastructure requirements to measure… Again, it has to do with the air quality, the measure of the greenhouse gas emissions, what type of infrastructure that’s going to be done in the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. For that we’ll go to Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. For my final answer, we have an air monitoring station in Norman Wells. As things develop and expand, of course we are going to take a look at the capacity of the station and ensure that it has the capacity to measure all the necessary criteria on qualities of the air so that we can ensure and deal with all of the issues tied to the development. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Chair, that’s my final question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Committee, we are on 11-2, department summary. Environment and Natural Resources, department summary, infrastructure investment summary, infrastructure investments, $2.235 million. Does committee agree?