Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will likely soon have a new industry in our territory manufacturing wood pellets. Aurora Wood Pellets' operation in Enterprise is expected to create many jobs at its mills and jobs for wood cutters from two First Nations communities. This is a very good thing.

I see from the records of the NWT Land and Water Board that green trees will be cut at various sites for pellet-making. Cleared lands are expected to regrow naturally without tree planting. The cuttings that have been approved are deemed to be sustainable for our forest. This is also good.

What is much less clear is whether cutting virgin forest in the NWT and then burning it as wood pellets is an environmentally sound thing to do. The release of greenhouse gases figures big in this equation. Another factor is that the live trees remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.

Currently, most of the wood pellets burned here for heat come from Alberta and BC. They are made from sawmill waste that would otherwise be burned without producing useful heat or energy. That is the main reason why burning these pellets instead of heating oil results in less greenhouse gas going into the atmosphere.

I am concerned this environmental benefit might be lost if we turn slow-growing northern forest into wood pellets, whether they are burned here or elsewhere in the world. So far, I have not been able to find any studies of this question in assessing the environmental impact of Aurora Wood Pellets' operation.

On the other hand, I have found studies, including one published by the Canadian Forest Service, showing that the use of Canadian green forest as a source of fuel for power or even heating releases more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than other fossil fuels, even coal. Mr. Speaker, this tells me that caution is warranted as our territory breaks into the wood pellet industry. It tells me that this new enterprise might be more environmentally friendly if we use the by-product of saw mills that produce northern lumber. This is a business that we once had and have lost.

I am also afraid that the piece-meal review of the projects may result in, well, overlooking the forest for the trees when it comes to greenhouse gas. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.