[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 132 (Tuesday, December 5, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2092-E2093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MAX H. DODSON

                                 ______
                                 

                            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

[[Page E2093]]

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.

                          ____________________