Author: John K. Berrigan Jr.

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325 Miles from Pensacola to Atlanta on Ice (Don’t make employees drive in an ice storm)

Editor’s note: For more information see the ABC Associated Press Video Footage from January 30, 2024

On January 10, 2011, my sales representative left me at the Pensacola airport and headed home to Birmingham, Alabama to hunker down. This sales trip was scheduled for Mobile, Opelika, and Montgomery then onto the Atlanta area for the last half of the week.

At 9:00 am, I reported in. My boss refused to let me buy a same-day ticket and abandon my trip as the ice storm started crossing into Alabama and Georgia. I was ordered to keep the rest of my itinerary and get to Atlanta.

I rented a car and headed up towards I-65 on the US highways. It was starting to freeze and the roads were slippery. I watched the groups of truckers tracking in in each other’s ruts. I fell in behind one of them, at a respectful distance. I understood that they would set the safest pace, and while my tires didn’t track perfectly in their ruts, I had two wheels in a good place in the lane.

I drove the next 250 miles moving from I-65 to I-85 in Montgomery, Alabama, and was approaching the Atlanta area near sundown. I found an Atlanta radio station carrying the traffic report, and it warned of gridlock conditions on the beltway and in downtown. I exited I-85 10 miles short of the beltway and connected with to US 29 to US 41 to US 19 and then up to Sandy Springs.

At 8:00 pm, my sales rep was quite clear to me that no one was going to be in the office for the next several days and I should just find a hotel. Sandy Springs and Five-Points were all booked. Hilton, Marriott, Holiday Inn, Motel 6, all booked. I called home for internet help.

With help, I was able to book an independent motel room, unfortunately near the airport. At 11:00 pm I checked into the Regency Inn, a pretty humble place, but it was warm, clean, and it had a bed.

The next day I turned in the car at the airport, found a better hotel near a MARTA station where I settled in for the next few days until I could take my regularly scheduled flight home on Friday, January 14th.

I have as much bad-weather winter driving experience as anyone could want. Growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, going to college at Michigan Tech, in Houghton, Michigan, visiting Ogden, Utah grandparents by car over the continental divide on I-90, and now this experience gave me more than my share. During that week, I had plenty of time to reconsider whether it was worth it to risk my life like that for a job.

It wasn’t.

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35 Years, Hanging Up the Blue Mantle

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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/35-years-hanging-up-blue-mantle-john-berrigan/?trackingId=L3hof43DQVe6vkptpZF8yg%3D%3D

Thank you!

It’s a privilege to finish a career in water and have the opportunity to move on to the next chapter. As I do, I want to thank the people and organizations that came to me with challenges that we’ve solved together. Michigan Technological University opened a new world for me. There Dr., John C. Crittenden and Dr. David W. Hand saw my potential and, with funding from EPA, invited me to join in the challenge to take all the pollutants out of the environment that my chemical engineering peers had put into it. 35 years later, I am astounded how they set me on a path that would take me across the globe, across the periodic table, and through the list of most every synthetic organic contaminating our environment.

Minnesota Communities – Thank You!

I’d like to thank the Minnesota Cities of St. Louis Park, Hutchinson, Mankato, as well as the communities of Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center, Eden Prairie, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Le Sueur, Northfield, New Ulm, Stillwater, St. Cloud and St. Peter and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (ML Wastewater Management) for purchasing technology through me or hiring me to improve the quality of life or improving the sustainability and resilience of your communities.

Minnesota, National and UK Agencies – Thank You!

I would like to thank the Minnesota agencies of the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, Department of Transportation and Department of Military Affairs for their patronage, and thank the Department of Health, and Pollution Control Agency for decades of collaboration.

Nationally, the experience from serving the United States Departments of Air Force, Army, Navy, Energy, and EPA has been stellar, and I’ve valued the opportunity to serve the Department of Justice and to bring new technology to the United Kingdom with permission of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution.

Communities in Wisconsin, Florida, Connecticut,
across the United States, and overseas – Thank You!

My thanks goes out to other communities where I have had the opportunity to help deliver technology to solve their environmental problems or make them more efficient and resilient:

Aiken South Carolina, American Bottoms Treatment Plant Illinois, Ames Iowa, Augusta County Virginia, Bedford Heights Ohio, Boynton Beach Florida, Burlington North Carolina, Cape Fear North Carolina, Cedar Rapids Iowa, Chicago MWRD Illinois, Chocowinity North Carolina, Cincinnati Ohio, Clearwater Florida, Collier County Florida, Columbus Ohio, Council Bluffs Iowa, Creston Iowa, Cross City Florida, El Paso Texas, Davie Florida, Estes Park Colorado, Fayette County Georgia, Fountain Hills Arizona, Gautier Mississippi, Great Lakes Water Authority and it predecessors, Greenville North Carolina, Highland Park Illinois, Holland Michigan, Hollywood Florida, Indianapolis Indiana, Jessup Maryland, Kalamazoo Michigan, Lake Zurich Illinois, Lantana Florida, Lathrop California, Los Angeles County California, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Medina Ohio, Miami-Dade County Florida, Mobile County Alabama, Morehead City North Carolina, Mount Holly New Jersey, North Olmsted Ohio, Oakland County Michigan, Palm Beach County Florida, Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, Pembroke Pines Florida, Purcellville Virginia, Sarasota County Florida, Seminole County Florida, Sioux Falls South Dakota, Toho County Florida, Vernon Connecticut, Wayne Water Districts North Carolina, West Salem Ohio, White Pine Tennessee, Yorkshire Water UK.

Companies and Industries Served – Thank You!

I would also like to thank the companies and industries that came to me to improve their water management, sustainability and resilience: 3M, ABB Lummus Crest, Air Liquide, Alcan Canada, Alpha Cellulose, Amoco, Arco, Bharat Petroleum Corporation LTD India, Blandin Paper, BNSF, BOC Gasses, Boise Cascade, Bostik, BP America, C.S. McCrossan, Canadian Pacific, Cargill Foods, Champion, Chiquita, Computing Devices International, Dairyland Power, Dakota Barge, Darling Ingredients, Dead Sea Bromine, Deere, Doe Run Company, DOFASCO, Dupont, Eastman Kodak, Edward Kramer Sons, Esso Canada, Exxon, Fabricom Belgium, Flint Hills Resources and Koch Industries, Fort Howard Paper, Frigidaire, Froedtert Malt, GlaxoSmithKline, Graco, H B Fuller, Hach Company, Hawkins, Hennepin Paper, Hickson Welch UK, Honeywell, Hurd Millwork, ICI Americas, International Dioxide, Johnson Controls, Kennecott, Lake Superior Paper Industries, Larsen Toubro India, Lignotech, Lombardia Italy, Madison Gas Electric, Marathon Ashland, Merck, Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, Minnesota Explosives, Minnesota Malting, Allete – Minnesota Power, Minntech, Monsanto, Mosaic, Nalco Div of Ecolab, Nature Energy, Niigata Japan, NKT Denmark, North Star Steel, Northshore Mining, Novartis, NRG Energy, Xcel Energy, Nucor Iron Carbide Trinidad, Outokumpu Ecoenergy Finland, Pall Gelman Sciences, Phillips 66, Rahr Malting, Rhône-Poulenc, Rockwell Automation, Rockwell Avionics, Rohm Haas Company, Sheldahl, Sterling Organics UK, Superior Recycled Fiber Industries, Taiwan Union Chemical Laboratories, Tampa Electric, Tenant Company, Tennessee Eastman, UOP, Upjohn Div. or Pfizer, Veolia, Virchow Krause, Vulcan Chemicals, Waste Management, Westinghouse Hanford, Westinghouse NSP Cottage Grove, WestRock, Wisconsin Electric.