SAS is US: John

Behind the story of every successful venture there is always a duo, working together, complementing each other’s strengths to create something meaningful. SAS Environmental Services’ story is by no means different. If you know Mark, you know John as well. And vice versa. John Harrison is our lovely, hard working COO, based in Houston, Texas. And here is his story.

So, as always, let us start with a simple question. What is your background?

Born and raised in the Yorkshire dales, in my opinion one of the most beautiful parts of the UK. I've always been a countryman at heart with a huge appreciation for nature, for wildlife and the natural world. I'm a huge fan of wild, remote places and in both protecting and actively conserving fragile environments and ecosystems. I did consider a career in conservation having carried out a considerable amount of volunteer work after I graduated for the likes of The Scottish Wildlife Trust and the John Muir Trust. I still actively support many of these charities and aim to continue this commitment.

My first degree was a BSc(Hons) in Environmental Sciences from University of Aberdeen with a Post Grad Certificate in Business Development from Glasgow Caledonian University, thus bridging the gap between science and commerce. I always knew I would need both skill sets if I were to make any level of positive impact on the planet during the course of my life. One of my big breaks came in 1999 with the winning of the Royal Society of Edinburgh & Scottish Enterprise Research Fellowship Award - one of 5 that year. Since this moment I have never really looked back.

I first decided that I wanted to go into pollution control and environmental cleanup when studying for A-levels at school. One of the courses covered industrial pollution and I was so horrified by the blatant stupidity of what I saw happening in the real world when carrying out much of my coursework that I decided there and then to spend my life trying to improve things. In many cases what I saw simply didn't make sense to me - it wasn't even about the money and expense to clean up waste. The efficiencies of doing so would have potentially made businesses more profitable. It was simply that people didn't seem to care or couldn't be bothered and this was a red flag in my face. The same passion drives me to this day when I see lakes or mountains of many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of tonnes of oily waste, slops and sludge lying in areas that have remained untreated, sometimes for decades.       

How did you come up with the idea of SAS Environment?

My first job after graduating Aberdeen University was working with Scottish Water & Napier University Pollution Control Unit to try and revolutionise the way in which industrial wastewater treatment discharge limits were set, based around toxicity rather than using arbitrary numerical values, and to address the challenge of how to monitor and regulate this new approach. I was part of a European project and worked on both the industrial and academic side of the argument. The general concept was orientated around regulating and charging customers using a more focused methodology relevant to the toxicity of wastes and volumes being discharged thus reflecting the severity of the impact on Waste Water Treatment Works. Thus customers would be paying directly relative to the amount of pollution they were causing. I also carried out some independent consulting work around the type of potential test kits that could effectively be employed.

This led to a role as a Research Associate at Napier University in Edinburgh and an introduction to an emerging industrial cleaning technology (microemulsions) that could be targeted towards environmental cleanup and, perhaps even more importantly, waste prevention, particularly so in the global Oil & Gas sector. I could see the potentials were both enormous and with wide ranging impacts. Based on this I founded SAS with Mark, who shares a similar mindset and aspiration, back in 2000. We've spent the last 20 years developing, certifying and commercialising the technology to become a mainstream of the O&G industry. Having our technology being copied by other, sometimes much larger corporations, has been one of the biggest compliments and has now allowed SAS to establish much more efficient product lines with some of the worlds largest and most influential operators. In this sense I believe we have achieved our goal of changing the way in which this industry works, for the better, saving companies many millions of dollars, whilst also cleaning up and preventing the production of many millions of tonnes of oily waste.  

How do you think the Oil & Gas Industry will look in the next 10 years?

I believe the industry will be much more efficient, which is good news for everyone. In particular I believe that successive downturns have driven this need for efficiency and continues to do so. In this respect waste minimization and waste prevention will become much more important considerations for operators as well stimulation and remediation enabling more production with less drilling, less fracking, therefore much less waste production and significantly less logistics. Indeed these aspects are now becoming KPIs for many corporations which now drive their onward trajectories. The same can be said for mid and downstream operations in the sector and we now see similar trends in refinery operations for example. Simply producing and discharging continued large volumes of oily waste is no longer a cheap or ethical option. In addition, diversifying into cleaner and more renewable energy technologies is a continuing trend that I believe will see the whole industry transform in the coming decades.     

What is your commitment to the environment?

In a nutshell I have always wanted to leave the planet in a better state as a result of my work and my life. I believe that everyone should share at least a part of this same ambition, one way or another, and to act upon this ambition in a meaningful way. This is what drives me every day and I have no problems getting up in the mornings...! 

If you enjoyed reading John’s backstory, don’t hesitate to connect with him via LinkedIn by clicking here.