ELI Award. Udall cousins honored 16 years after their renowned fathers

• Pages: 54-55

Page 54 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2010, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, Jan./Feb. 2010

Making the Law Work for

People, Places, and the Planet

United States Senators

Mark Udall of Colorado

and Tom Udall of New

Mexico were the joint

recipients of the 2009

ELI Award at a ceremony

held before 640 members

of the environmental

profession at the ELI An-

nual Dinner at the Omni

Shoreham Hotel in Wash-

ington, D.C., on October

29. e award honors

both of them — who

are f‌irst cousins — for

advancing environmental

protection in their profes-

sional and public service

activities.

e Udalls were in-

troduced by Robert G.

Stanton, Deputy Assistant

Secretary, Policy, Manage-

ment, and Budget, of the

Department of the Inte-

rior.

e two senators fol-

low in the footsteps of

their fathers, who received

the ELI Award in 1993.

Mark’s father, Morris

“Mo” Udall, served in the

House of Representatives

for 30 years and ran for

the Democratic nomina-

tion for President in 1976.

Tom’s father, Stewart

Udall, served as Secretary

of the Interior under Presi-

dents John F. Kennedy

and Lyndon B. Johnson.

e younger set of dis-

tinguished cousins began

walking the environmental

law trail many years ago.

Before being elected to

the Senate in 2008, Mark

Udall represented Colo-

rado’s second congressio-

nal district for f‌ive terms,

beginning in 1999. Re-

garded as a national leader

on renewable energy, he

worked to put Colorado at

the forefront of sustainable

energy development.

In 2004, he successfully

co-chaired a campaign to

pass Colorado’s f‌irst Re-

newable Electricity Stan-

dard, which requires pow-

er companies to use more

alternative energy sources.

In 2007, the House of

Representatives twice

passed an RES champi-

oned by both Mark and

Tom Udall. Mark is cur-

rently campaigning to en-

act a national RES in the

Senate, where he sits on

the Committee for Energy

and Natural Resources and

chairs the National Parks

Subcommittee.

rough the years,

Mark Udall’s inclusive and

bipartisan approach has

ELI Award

Udall cousins

honored 16

years after their

renowned fathers

led to a number of other

legislative achievements,

including legislation to

reduce wildf‌ire risk and

bark-beetle infestation,

promoting renewable en-

ergy and the green energy

economy. Mark also led

successful ef‌forts to pass

the James Peak Wilder-

ness Bill and transform

the Rocky Flats Nuclear

Weapons facility into a

National Wildlife Refuge.

In 2008, Tom Udall

was elected to the Senate

from New Mexico after

10 years of representing

the state in the House of

Representatives. He had

also served as the state’s

Attorney General for eight

years prior to his election

to the House and as the

Chief Counsel to the New

Mexico Department of

Health and Environment

during the 1980s.

Tom also carries with

him an impressive port-

folio of environmental

achievements. One of his

most notable victories was

his shepherding through

Congress of the 2005

Ojito Wilderness Act. e

Ojito Wilderness contains

approximately 11,000

acres and is characterized

by dramatic land forma-

tions and rock structures,

multi-colored badlands, as

well as a multitude of cul-

tural, archaeological, and

paleontological sites.

In his role on the Sen-

ate Environment and

Public Works Committee,

Tom Udall continues his

important work on energy

and environment issues

begun during his tenure in

the House.

On the Indian Af‌fairs

Committee, he also carries

on his longtime mission

of helping shape programs

of special concern to Na-

tive Americans, including

economic development,

trust responsibilities, land

management, Indian

education, and health and

loan programs.

In accepting their

awards, the two senators

praised ELI for its ongoing

role in the environmental

movement and addressed

the challenges that lie

ahead. “As a member of

ELI’s board for more than

a decade,” said Tom Udall,

“I’ve seen f‌irst hand the

At ELI’s 40th Anniversary Dinner, the lineup included the Interior Department’s Robert Stanton, Hon-

orees Tom Udall and Mark Udall, ELI President Leslie Carothers, and Board Chair William Eichbaum.