Volume 152, No. 132 covering the 2nd Session of the 109th Congress (2005 - 2006) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO MAX H. DODSON” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2092-E2093 on Dec. 5, 2006.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO MAX H. DODSON
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HON. MARK UDALL
of colorado
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the exemplary service of Mr. Max Dodson. Mr. Dodson will be retiring from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Region 8 office in Denver, Colorado, this coming January.
For over 35 years, Mr. Dodson has been at the forefront of EPA's initiatives and programs. His career at EPA is marked with many firsts and a tireless dedication to the Agency and its mission. Since joining EPA in August 1971, Max held numerous positions in the Denver, Colorado, and Helena, Montana, offices. These include: Director, Montana Operations Office, Helena, Montana; Director, Water Quality Management Division, Denver, Colorado; and Assistant Regional Administrator, Office of Ecosystems Protection and Remediation, Denver, Colorado. He holds a B.A. in Geography and two masters' degrees, one in Geography and one in Public Administration.
In addition, Max served 4 years as an intelligence officer with the U.S. Department of Navy and spent more than 20 years in the Naval Reserve where he was the Regional Commander of a District Office for several years. On top of his service to our country, Max has been a past member of the South Platte River Commission, and the Red River, Poplar River and Souris River Boards of the International Joint Commission (a binational United States-Canada organization established under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909) and the Steering Committee for the American Water Resources Association.
In the early 1970s, Max was a major contributor to EPA's very first wastewater facility plan and the first ever basin-wide water quality management plan. Both of these plans guided the development and management of wastewater treatment systems within Summit County, Colorado, and Weber County, Utah. As the first of their kind, these plans were used as models for the rest of EPA and to this day, provide a guide to development and citing of wastewater treatment facilities in these two counties. Likewise, Max worked with the State of Montana to develop the first State/EPA agreement which provided the basis for environmental work within the State and enabled EPA to award millions of dollars in grants to the State in support of that work.
While a member of the Poplar and Red River International Boards, Max was instrumental in the development of some of the earliest agreements between Canada and the United States detailing how each country would manage activities in the river basin to minimize water quality impacts that each country's activities had on the other country. Another first for EPA, which Max initiated and cultivated from the 1980s through now, was bringing together the Superfund and Clean Water Programs to address serious water quality problems in the Western United States due to historical mining activities. As a consequence of Max's leadership, EPA Region 8 was the first region in the country to list mining sites on the Superfund National Priorities List. Today, several mine cleanups have been completed and many others are underway using Superfund resources to pay for the cleanup. Through his efforts the very first
``Good Samaritan'' agreement was developed for an abandoned mining site located in the American Fork Canyon in Utah. This agreement is serving as a model for others and has informed the Congressional deliberations related to new ``Good Sam'' legislation.
Another example of Max's leadership is the development of a Response Support Corps and Regional Response Center for EPA Region 8 during the early 2000s. Due to his foresight, Region 8 was able to contribute more than its proportional share of the EPA staff who worked on the Katrina recovery efforts. Max also served as a ranking officer during the initial response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Max was an important asset in the early days of the Katrina recovery efforts to get all of the disparate parties to work together and to ensure that the work done in the field was responsive to the needs identified.
For the last 11 years of Max's career he has been the Senior Manager overseeing the Region's Superfund, Brownfields, Emergency Response/
Preparedness and National Environmental Policy Act programs, as well as several parts of the Agency's Clean Water Program. In all, his office of over 200 personnel has responsibility for implementation of six environmental statutes: Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (a.k.a., Superfund); Oil Pollution Act; Brownfields Revitalization Act; National Environmental Policy Act; Clean Water Act; and Safe Drinking Water Act. Additionally, his office oversees cleanup of the Department of Defense sites under its Base Realignment and Closure, and Defense Environmental Restoration programs.
Region 8 has the distinction of being the home to some of the country's largest and most complicated Superfund sites and projects: Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Rocky Flats, Clark Fork Watershed, Clear Creek Watershed, and Libby Asbestos cleanups to name a few. The capstone of his many Superfund accomplishments was the work Max performed related to the final cleanup of Rocky Flats in 2006, enabling most of it to be converted to a wildlife refuge. Max served on the governing board that directed and oversaw the cleanup of Rocky Flats. Through his leadership and guidance, the $6.7 billion project was completed 14 months ahead of schedule and over $550 million under budget. Since 1980, 61 sites in the region have been listed on Superfund's National Priorities List--a list of sites representing the greatest risk to human health, welfare and the environment. By the end of 2006, 44 of the 61 sites will have been cleaned up, all but 4 under Max's tenure. Of the 44 cleaned sites, 11 have been deleted from the NPL.
Region 8 is a leader for the country in terms of the number of acres and cleanup projects restored to beneficial uses. For example, since April, 2004, over 13,000 out of a possible 17,000 acres of Rocky Mountain Arsenal have been converted from weapons and pesticides manufacturing to a National Wildlife Refuge, the largest urban refuge in the Nation. Revitalization projects which have received national recognition or awards under Max's watch have been:
1. Prairie Gateway--an over 900 acre project involving recreational and commercial uses Northeast of Denver, Colorado, including a world class soccer stadium and practice fields and a new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service visitor center for the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge.
2. SLC Gateway--former 650 acre railyard that was converted to mixed retail, hotel, and residential use in Salt Lake City, Utah. The redevelopment was integral part of the 2002 Winter Olympics and was selected as a Brownfields Showcase Project.
3. Murray Lead Smelter--142 acre former lead smelter that was converted to a public transit station, hospital, and commercial/retail space located in Murray, Utah.
4. Colorado Bioscience Park and Health Sciences Center--the former property that housed the Fitzsimons Army Hospital has been redeveloped into a $4.3 billion ``square mile of life science projects'' and is the focus for the biotechnology industry in the Rocky Mountain Region. The Colorado Bioscience Park located in Aurora, Colorado is the first university-
affiliated ``biopark'' to be developed west of the Mississippi. It is adjacent to the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and Hospital Complex, the Children's Hospital, and the Fitzsimons Commons town center, all of which make up the new development at the former Fitzsimons Army Hospital
5. Lowry Redevelopment--the former 1866 acre Lowry Air Force Base has been converted to 4500 residential properties, 4 college campuses, a town center with shopping and commercial space, and 800 acres of open/
recreational space. Lowry has been so successful that it received the Governor's Award for Smart Growth and is a model community for urban-
infill projects across the country.
Throughout his career, Max has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including two bronze medals, a U.S. Forest Service award, the prestigious 4Cs award from the Bureau of Land Management, a Department of Defense Award for work on Rocky Mountain Arsenal, and. several special SES service awards. In 2004 Max received the coveted Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive. The Presidential Rank Award recognized, among several other things, his leadership in setting up the first ``one stop'' funding process for Clean Water Act programs which was subsequently adopted by the Agency; reinvigorating and streamlining the Regional National Priorities Listing efforts which resulted in the addition of 12 new sites located in Region 8 to the National Priorities List; and evaluating the impacts of wastewater point and non-point sources of contamination on a watershed basis instead of the traditional discharge by discharge basis. Through Max's leadership, the EPA changed several of its approaches for addressing environmental problems and managing different aspects of the Clean Water and Superfund programs.
Max has contributed 40 years of service to the people of this nation and especially the communities encompassed within EPA's Region 8 area. His ``can do'' approach and personal style of working with people make him a role model for public servants in all aspects of government. I want to personally thank him for his work on the clean up of Rocky Flats and mine waste issues--especially ``Good Samaritan'' concepts--
two issues that are especially important to my Congressional District. He has laid the foundation for all of us to continue his great work for the benefit of the environment, our quality of life and effective public service. I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking Max for his contributions and wishing him the very best in his future endeavors.
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