[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 11, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6373-S6374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING RANDY UDALL

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, I wish to take this 
opportunity to again thank my colleagues for their kind words on the 
passing of Randy Udall. Their condolences, and those of so many people 
who knew and loved Randy, have been a great source of comfort to our 
family. I would also like to share with them Randy's obituary, 
published in the Aspen Times, as we remember Randy and celebrate his 
life.
  I ask unanimous consent that the obituary be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       James ``Randy'' Udall, a native son of the American West, 
     died June 20, 2013, on the eve of the Summer Solstice, doing 
     what he loved most, hiking in the remote Wind River 
     Mountains. He was 61 years old. The cause of his death: 
     natural.
       Randy was both a visionary and a pragmatist. Known for the 
     size of his heart and the breadth of his wild mind, Randy 
     Udall was all about energy: physical and mental. His 
     expertise on domestic and international energy sustainability 
     was singular, both as a free-lance writer and as an advocate. 
     In 1984, he co-founded the nonprofit Community Office for 
     Resource Efficiency (CORE) in Carbondale, Colorado, where he 
     served for 13 years as director. CORE's partnerships with 
     electric utilities and local governments led to Colorado's 
     first solar energy incentive program, the world's first 
     Renewable Energy Mitigation Program and some of the most 
     progressive green power purchasing programs in America.
       In 2005, Randy co-founded the Association for the Study of 
     Peak Oil-USA to track the shifting balance between world oil 
     supply and depletion. He was a brilliant communicator, owned 
     by no one, plain-spoken, humble, and nuanced. He was a 
     celebrated speaker engaging audiences world-wide on the 
     complexities of energy development. He was the rare thought 
     leader who put his thoughts into action. Randy's home in 
     Carbondale was retrofitted with solar panels that he often 
     shared would keep 300,000 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the 
     atmosphere over 20 years. The energy bill on his 2,000-
     square-foot home was a mere $300 per year.
       Randy Udall told hard truths: ``We have been living like 
     gods,'' he often said. ``Our task now is to learn how to live 
     like humans. Our descent will not be easy.''
       Randy Udall was born on October 29, 1951, in Tucson, Ariz., 
     to former Arizona Congressman Morris K. Udall and Patricia 
     Emery Udall. His education was informed by Prescott College 
     and the University of Denver, but he graduated from neither. 
     He subscribed to what John Wesley Powell called ``a home-
     grown education'' driven by place and fueled by curiosity. 
     His path of inquiry was grounded in auto mechanics, 
     carpentry, a commitment to writing, environmental studies, 
     and advocacy. He also worked for Outward Bound as a 
     wilderness instructor. Instinct, intuition, and experience 
     became the bedrock of his uncommon wisdom.
       Randy belonged to a respected political family. Alongside 
     the distinguished political career of his father, he was the 
     nephew of Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior during the 
     Kennedy and Johnson administrations, from whom he drew great 
     inspiration. His eldest brother Mark Udall and his cousin Tom 
     Udall currently represent Colorado and New Mexico in the U.S. 
     Senate. With his usual wit and candor, he often apologized 
     for politicians in the West, but he never abandoned his 
     family's commitment to public service and embrace of the open 
     space of democracy.
       In the 1980s, Randy reported on the Sanctuary Movement for 
     the Tucson Citizen, riding the underground railroad and 
     listening to the plight of the refugees it carried from 
     Central America to the United States. He was the first 
     reporter to break the story of the Tucson Sanctuary Movement 
     nationally and garner support and justice for them. Through 
     his writing, Randy continually sought to give voice to others 
     and to the land. ``I love forms beyond my own, and regret the 
     borders between us,'' wrote Loren Eiseley, one of Randy's 
     favorite authors.
       In 1987, Randy co-authored ``Too Funny To Be President'' 
     with his father, Mo Udall, and Bob Neuman. And in 1993, he 
     collaborated with his uncle Stewart Udall and renowned 
     photographer David Muench on the book, ``National Parks of 
     America.''

[[Page S6374]]

       He was a man who loved words and big ideas. As much as he 
     loved to climb mountains, he loved the landscape of public 
     discourse. Randy will be remembered as an extraordinary 
     listener and a lively raconteur. He gave dignity to his 
     conversations, be it with a roughneck on an oil patch or 
     testing and charming an environmentalist over beer. He was at 
     home with those who cared. His alliances were creative and 
     brave. He possessed an open mind, and at times, a fierce one, 
     calling for an ethics of a place. Randy did not hesitate to 
     go toe-to-toe with oil executives, calling for 
     accountability, when discussing the realities of peak oil.
       But most of all, Randy Udall loved all things wild: skiing 
     across Baffin Island in the 1976; casting a line of light on 
     a meandering river; hiking the Colorado Rockies with his 
     children. In an email to his daughter Tarn, when rafting with 
     her brother down the Tatshenshini River in Alaska, he said 
     simply, lovingly, ``Stay warm, stay fed, and feed the morale 
     meter, too.'' He was a man of paradoxes: a loner and a 
     communitarian; joyful and brooding; present one minute and 
     gone, the next. And his vast frame of reference was apparent 
     by the diversity on his bookshelves with Mary Oliver's 
     ``Collected Poems'' next to ``A Field Guide to Geology''; 
     Ivan Doig's nonfiction shelved next to ``The Prize: The Epic 
     Quest for Oil, Money & Power'' by Daniel Yergin. When Wallace 
     Stegner admonished Westerners ``to create a society to match 
     the scenery,'' this was the joyous life work of Randy Udall.
       Randy is survived by his beloved wife, Leslie Emerson and 
     their three children, Ren, Tarn, and Torrey Udall; his five 
     siblings: Mark Udall (wife, Maggie Fox), Judith Udall 
     (husband, Ben Harding), Anne Udall (partner, Tillie Clark), 
     Brad Udall (wife, Jane Backer), and Kate Udall; and his 
     nephews, Jed Udall and Clay Harding, and niece, Tess Udall. 
     He also leaves behind his cousin, Tom Udall, alongside Denis 
     Udall, Scott Udall, Lynn Udall, Lori Udall, and Jay Udall. He 
     is preceded in death by his father, Morris K. Udall, his 
     mother, Patricia Emery Udall, his uncle Stewart Udall, and 
     his nephew Luke Harding.
       In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to: The Randy 
     Udall Memorial Fund, Alpine Bank, 350 Highway 133, 
     Carbondale, Colorado, 81623. Donations will support youth in 
     action.

                          ____________________