Yellowknife (Dec 20/06) - Despite being ousted as environment minister, Michael Miltenberger is pledging to continue to work at safeguarding the territories land, water and animals.

The former health and environment minister said with the amount of attention paid to revenue sharing and devolution, the environment got put on the backburner during the 15th sitting of the legislative assembly, and this thinking needs to change.

"Let me put it this way, I'm laying out what I see for life after the 15th assembly, and the things we'll have to focus on first and foremost is health and the environment," he said.

During his tenure, Miltenberger said he worked on developing territorial species at risk legislation, a caribou management strategy and brought together environment ministers from around the country for a landmark summit.

"What is future resource development going to cost us here in the North?" asked Miltenberger. "Look at Giant Mine. That cleanup cost was never calculated at the front end and we were left with a site that's probably the worst in the country."