The Harrison family wishes one and all a Happy Thanksgiving and holiday season.

We are thankful for the continued long life of our mother Myra, who along with our father founded our Company. They taught us the importance of family, health and giving back, things that are most important at this time of the year.

Enjoy this wonderful season in good health and happiness with family and friends.

We hope you enjoy this, our third e-mail newsletter in a continuing series. If there are people you know who should be receiving our e-mail newsletters, please let us know by sending their e-mail addresses to info@ejharrison.com.

Myron, Jim and Ralph Harrison

Harrison Industries has opened the first LNG fueling station in western Ventura County.

Government officials, business leaders and special guests turned out Oct. 18 for a special grand opening of the environmentally friendly station at Harrison’s Saticoy maintenance yard.

“This is indeed a big day for us and our 70,000 customers. But, perhaps most of all, it’s a big day for our environment,” President Ralph Harrison told the audience.

This station will result in the elimination of diesel emissions from a significant portion of Harrison’s fleet. Portions of funding for the fueling station were provided by the Ventura County APCD and also with financial assistance from the City of Ventura.

“This is another example of environmental leadership from Harrison Industries and the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District,” said Supervisor Steve Bennett. “Harrison is once again ahead of the curve on this project. We can all breathe a little easier now.”

Also on hand to usher in this important facility were Ventura council members Brian Brennan, Jim Monahan and Neal Andrews, Camarillo Councilwoman Charlotte Craven, Ojai Councilman Joe Devito, Brian Miller from Congressman Gallegly’s office, VCEDA President/CEO Bill Burrato and Ventura Chamber President/CEO Zoe Taylor.

“They had a choice to either wait or set the standard,” Bennett said. “Every time we are following one of their trucks down a resident street, we are going to appreciate the fact they are running on LNG and not on diesel.”

“We’re pleased that you are here with us today, and we’re most appreciative of the cooperation we’ve received from the City of Ventura and the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) in undertaking this important project,” Harrison said.

“This is a state-of-the-art facility,” said Jerry Mason, a supervising air quality engineer at the APCD. The station has two pumps and its 50-foot tall tank holds 13,000 gallons -- provides enough fuel for Harrison Industries to last six to seven weeks. The LNG is transported to the Saticoy station by Clean Energy from a central California source
that gets the fuel from providers in Colorado, Wyoming and Texas.

The trash industry has been faced with higher air quality standards than any other trucks running on the roads of California. “We are proud of our compliance record with the California Air Resources Board air quality regulations,” Harrison said.

Harrison has ordered 15 new fully-dedicated LNG trucks, and is in the process of converting five of its diesel engine trucks to run on LNG, which will bring the number of LNG vehicles in Harrison’s fleet to 31.

The ARB Refuse Rule further requires all companies to retrofit or replace the engines in all their vehicles by 2010. Harrison is accomplishing that well ahead of schedule.

Harrison Industries, a family owned company, has been in business for more than 74 years and provides trash and recycling hauling services to the County of Ventura and the cities of Ventura, Camarillo, Ojai, Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Carpinteria.

Picture: Matt Mallams / Special to The Star 10/18/06 Ventura - Chris Frank looks at a diesel engine that has been converted to run on natural gas at the grand opening Wednesday of Harrison Industries’ liquefied natural gas station in Saticoy.

Ventura County Star Article by Kevin Clerici, October 19, 2006.

Ventura County air pollution officials lauded trash hauler Harrison Industries on Wednesday for persevering through a long approval process to open the first liquefied natural gas fueling station in west Ventura County.

Within two weeks, Harrison expects to have 31 trash trucks running on the clean-burning fossil fuel, curbing diesel emissions in the neighborhoods of some of its 70,000 customers.

Trash-collection vehicles face higher air quality standards than any other trucks on the road, and Harrison is one of 20 refuse companies statewide ahead of schedule in meeting these strict regulations, said Jerry Mason, a supervising air quality engineer at the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.

“This is a state-of-the-art facility,” Mason said, standing next to a 50-foot-tall, 13,000-gallon LNG storage tank at Harrison’s maintenance facility in Saticoy.

About 50 people attended Wednesday’s public unveiling at the Saticoy yard, which culminated a difficult, four-year, $500,000 effort to get the fueling station up and running.

Such stations remain in their infancy, and installation and safety standards have yet to be developed in Ventura County, which at times slowed the processing of Harrison’s permits. The only other LNG station in Ventura County is run by G.I. Industries in Simi Valley, Mason said.

“We went back and forth with fire officials probably 15 times over safety regulations, because they had never seen a facility like this,” said Rob Worcester, owner of Cryogenic Experts, a Oxnard-based firm hired by Harrison to install the fueling station.

Despite the delays and red tape, Harrison never wavered from its plan, which was financed partly with a grant from the Air Pollution Control District.

“They had a choice to either wait or set the standard,” said county Supervisor Steve Bennett, who was joined by Ventura Councilman Brian Brennan and other dignitaries at the station Wednesday. “Every time we are following one of their trucks down a residential street, we are going to appreciate the fact they are running on LNG and not
on diesel.”

No local LNG producer

Picture: Matt Mallams / Special to The Star 10/18/06 Ventura -The Harrison trash hauling trucks and liquefied natural gas station at the Harrison Industries corporate yard in Saticoy.

The gas at Harrison’s new station is trucked in from Wyoming. It would not benefit directly from companies seeking to build LNG terminals off Southern California’s coast, Mason said.

Those terminals would receive super-chilled liquid natural gas from big tankers, warm it back to vapor, then send it through pipelines for use in homes, businesses and power plants.

California has no permitted producer to convert it back into a liquefied form for stations such as Harrison’s, Mason said. “Harrison started down this path before the first offshore application even arrived,” Mason said.

Harrison’s storage tank holds enough fuel to last six to seven weeks, the company said. Natural gas is increasingly favored by utilities and environmentalists because it is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel. Domestic natural gas consumption is expected to increase 39 percent by 2025, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

The trucks in Harrison’s fleet fueled by LNG will generate 50 percent less smog-producing oxides of nitrogen and 90 percent less soot than diesel-powered vehicles, officials said.

The family-owned company has retrofitted garbage trucks in other ways to cut diesel emissions, and is testing a new diesel fuel blended with water. The California Air Resources Board has mandated refuse companies to retrofit or replace high-polluting diesel engines by 2010. Harrison has a total of about 130 vehicles.

Tapping the landfill

For local air quality officials, the future lies in the abundant methane gas inadvertently produced at local landfills. The “dirty” gas at the landfill, Mason said, conceivably could be captured, cleaned and “recycled” into an on-site liquefied gas station to power service trucks across the county.

That would prevent Harrison from having to pay to bring LNG from out of state and possibly encourage other companies to invest in the costly LNG engines, which cost Harrison about $40,000 more than a conventional diesel one.

Picture: (L) Children from the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley. (R) George Harrison meets with Assemblywoman Audra Strickland at the annual Boy Scout auction in October.

Harrison Industries is a major sponsor of two different auctions this month supporting youth. Both auctions occurred on Oct. 28.

The auctions support the Ventura County Boy Scouts and the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clara Valley.

The Harrison brothers, Jim, Myron and Ralph, are carrying on a tradition started by their parents when they were children.

The late E. J. Harrison, founder of the company, was a Boy Scout leader in the 1940’s and 1950’s and his sons today carry the same zeal for supporting youth in the area. Upon E. J.’s death more than 10 years ago, Myra Harrison left a legacy for the Ventura Boys & Girls Club. Today the Harrisons support the Boy Scouts and Boys & Girls Clubs in the communities they serve.

The City of Ventura and E. J. Harrison & Sons are pleased to announce a number of exciting improvements to Ventura’s recycling program that will increase the range of materials that can be recycled, provide larger residential recycling containers, reduce costs for extra green waste recycling, and better coordinate street sweeping with trash/recycling collection.

“These are substantial improvements at a modest cost to our trash, street sweeping and recycling services – and a great example of the close, beneficial and long-term relationship developed between the City of Ventura and E. J. Harrison & Sons, a locally-based family-owned company that consistently gives back valuable benefits to our community” says Mayor Carl E. Morehouse.

EXPANDED RECYCLING SERVICES: More materials than ever will now be accepted in commercial recycling containers and the blue residential recycling carts – including rigid plastics, such as flowerpots, nursery flats and small toys. Even athletic shoes are now allowed - Gold Coast Recycling has an arrangement to provide Nike with old shoes which in turn will be converted into athletic playing surfaces. In general, the only plastics that cannot be placed in the blue recycling containers are film plastics.

LARGER RESIDENTIAL RECYCLING CONTAINERS: Larger blue barrels – 50% larger than the existing standard sized recycling container – are now available to customers who need and request them, at no extra cost to regular service! Call 647-1414 for a larger cart.

REDUCED COSTS FOR EXTRA YARD WASTE RECYCLING: The new Agreement also reduces the cost for an extra Yard Waste cart to $3 per month.

STREET SWEEPING SERVICES ADDED: The new Agreement also gives Harrison the responsibility for street sweeping throughout the city. “Harrison will work with California Wood Recycling to ensure that the majority of street sweeping debris is not landfilled , as it has been in the past, but instead is reused as soil amendment,” the Mayor said. Harrison estimates that the amount of diversion from this program could reach several thousand tons per year.

Harrison Industries was on hand at the Ventura Chamber’s Marketplace at the County Fairgrounds to help educate businesses on how to recycle. Representing Harrison a the event were Brian Crutchely of Agromin, Nan Drake of Gold Coast Recycling and Peter Guitierrez.

Picture: Angel Escobedo values education, an appreciation that he has passed on to his six children.

Angel Escobedo, one of 14 children, didn't get past the sixth grade while growing up in small town of Jerez, in the central Mexican state of Zacatecas. Even so, he developed a lifelong love of reading.

A history and geography buff, “I love learning everything about the world,” Escobedo said. A commercial recycling driver who has been an employee with Harrison Industries for 22 years, Escobedo is also pretty good with numbers, and remembers the exact date – Oct. 11, 1968 – that he immigrated to the United States.

Escobedo values education, an appreciation that he passed on to his six children, all of whom graduated from Santa Paula High School and are pursuing successful careers. Three have earned their college degrees and a fourth is currently in college, while two others attended trade schools. A rundown of the Escobedo clan:

• Rafael, 33, is a commercial plumber;
  
  
• Olivia, 30, is completing her teaching credential at LaVerne University to become an elementary school instructor in Fillmore;
  
  
• Julian, 29, enrolled in the Army for three years before earning a degree from Cal State Northridge. He is a civil engineer;
  
  
• Angel Jr., 28, earned a degree in Political Science from UCLA, before spending two years in the Peace Corps where he helped establish a non-profit organization in Guatemala. He soon will enroll in law school;
  
  
• Martin, 27, is a mechanic and carpenter;
  
  
• Jaime, 20, attends Ventura College where he is studying electronic engineering. He wants to later attend Cal State Northridge.

While he helped pay their way through school, Escobedo pointed out that his children also worked, earned scholarships and took out student loans.

“I’m most proud that they took advantage of the educational opportunities that were not possible for me,” Escobedo said. But, he quickly added that his wife of 35 years, Anita, deserves much of the credit for his children’s success.

“My wife watched them go to school, go to school, every day, every day,” Escobedo said, “And she was there when they came home, every time, every time.”

Don’t throw those old tennis shoes in the trash can. They can be recycled at Gold Coast Recycling, where hundreds of tennis shoes are processed daily, as shown here by George Harrison, left, and Tom Harrison. Old tennis shoes are sent to Nike, where they are recycled into future playground equipment. Don’t put them in your trash can, put them in your recycle container.