On the job with ... Dan Sauvé

 

Dan Sauvé is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer with a civil and environmental engineering background. He has worked in various environmental engineering capacities in eastern and central United States before returning to his northern Minnesota roots. He worked on the clean up of hazardous waste sites in Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Oklahoma. 

Dan went to grade school in Roseau, and high school in Bemidji, where he was captain of the wrestling team during his senior year. He was sixth of seven children in his family. His parents still live in Bemidji. 

“My dad was the Roseau County Engineer for 12 years, and the Beltrami County Engineer for 15 years. I would have to say that is what motivated me to want to become an engineer,” Dan says. “He would bring me along to check on ditch systems and roads at a young age, and by age of 12 I was helping dad with some surveying work.”

“My mom spent time as a stay at home parent, and working as an RN.”

Dan attended North Dakota State University in Fargo to receive his BS in Civil Engineering, and later to become a licensed Professional Engineer. Dan has one daughter Danae who is 14 years old.  

After college, he took a job as a civilian with the U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force base in Ohio. He helped with the oversight of environmental issues at the McDonnell Douglas plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Aero Jet facility in Sacramento, California.

He says one of his most interesting projects was at Aero Jet where they tested and manufactured rocket engines and other amazing things.  

“I got to see where they tested rocket engines and hear the stories from the test engineers first hand. That was really interesting,” he says. 

For five years, Dan worked with a consulting firm in Nashville, Tennessee. One project was in New Jersey on a 147 acre site where a company had dumped many chemicals and contaminated the soil and ground water with industrial fill, which started production in the mid-1800s. 

“They literally dumped their waste chemicals through the floor of the building and let it flow out into the ocean,” Dan says. This was long before people started thinking about environmental protection. In the 1970s the company started to clean up what they were doing by capturing and treating all the chemically laden water before leaving the site. Luckily, companies do not operate that way anymore. 

The Nashville firm made the mistake of sending Dan to work in their New Jersey office one winter. They had a large amount of snow while he was there, and unlike many, he was delighted. 

“The thought of coming back to be near family and the snow really motivated me to return to the area. It reminded me of how much I missed the snow and my family. And going snowmobiling and ice fishing in the winter,” Dan says.

When Dan came back to Minnesota, he worked in Traverse County for two years as the County  Engineer and Emergency Management Director during the big flood of 1997. 

“We had 400 washouts and 80% of our roads were barricaded at one time. Let's say I had a crash course in emergency management, being a county engineer, and getting things done.” 

Dan has served in Clearwater County for 19 years as the County Engineer, managing the roads and bridges here. “What I like about this line of work is that when you build a road or bridge, you can see the end results. It is the way I can contribute the most to the public.” 

“I think I have done a good job here,” he says. “We have rebuilt 31% of the bridges we inspect in the County, and currently don't have any bridges needing replacement in the next five year plan. We have rebuilt and paved 40 miles of gravel roads, and improved many of our existing blacktop roads. I remember when I started here 19 years ago we had brush and trees right up against the shoulder of many of the roads. Now we've recovered most of our right-of-ways along the roads, providing greatly improved safety.” 

“The biggest challenge in being the engineer for a county is the balancing act, Dan says. “As an engineer, you want to build the best, but that is not affordable. So you look at what meets the needs, versus the funds. I believe I do a good job with the balancing act for the people in Clearwater County.” 

The last time the county increased the local road and bridge levy was in 2007. 

Another challenge Dan sees is when the cost of oil increases dramatically. 

“Since our business is so tied to the price of oil, it has a major impact on our operation and a road construction. I like to use this analogy so you can see how much the price of oil can impact our operation and cost to deliver services. Our little highway department uses an average of 800,000 gallons of oil in one year. What many can't comprehend is a great amount of the oil is used in our bituminous surfacing.” 

“Also, realize that oil is used for so much more on a daily basis besides roads. It is in our plastics, clothes, medicines, even in tooth paste! There is no way to be free from using oil, and the use of oil will not go away.” 

Regarding environment protection endeavors, Dan says to be cautious of what you hear and push for in environmental regulations. 

“Remember that part about engineering being a balancing act. I have worked as an environmental engineer for seven years of my career, and I keep up on the issues. I believe most of the regulations designed in the 70s and 80s were necessary. But many of the environmental regulations since then to govern carbon dioxide and combat so-called man-made global warming are questionable. 

“Man made global warming is barely measurable. My concern is that regulations become too costly for man to handle for very little benefit. The emission controls systems installed on snowplow trucks increase the cost to $20,000 each (we have seven). The worst part is, we end up burning more fuel with those systems.” He says the cost of electricity has also gone up as a result of regulations. 

“It is a question of whether the true benefit is there, based on true facts, to justify the cost to the consumer. From what I see and read from unbiased sources, the benefits just are not there.” 

Another issue for the public to consider when discussing the desire for environmental protection is the pipeline and oil, Dan states. 

“Realize the pipeline is the safest and most cost efficient way to transport oil compared to trucks or trains. It also has the least environmental impact, and least impact on the longevity and safety to people driving on our roads. And less energy is used to transport it that way.” 

In ten years, Dan still sees himself serving the public in an engineering capacity. 

“My favorite part of the job as County Engineer is in helping people, and improving our County by making the roads safer – as safe as possible with the funding we have in the most cost effective manner. I am proud of the county road system we have in Clearwater County, and we have a great crew. 

“Our crew does an excellent job, and they are proud of the work they do. So please thank our road crew.”