May 3, 2023

Harrison Adopt-A-Highway Cleanup Events – By the Numbers ​Cleanup Date ​Trash Bags ​Recycle Bags ​No. Participants ​08/19/2021 ​18 ​8 ​12 ​12/07/2021 ​38 ​10 ​14 ​04/06/2022 ​27 ​6 ​14 ​12/07/2022 ​14 ​6 ​10 ​04/12/2023 ​21 ​2 ​9

Harrison Power Station Sustainability Team Members Julie Ford, senior scientist (Team Lead) Lysle Sites, engineer V (Team Lead) Gary Dinzeo, director, Harrison Power Station Ed Murphy, manager, Technical Services Adam Cetorelli, electrician, Maintenance Jon Durbin, supervisor, Technical Services Jessica Shaffer, advanced scientist Carla Spray, coal yard operator Marshall Westfall, superintendent, Maintenance Donnie Wolfe, supervisor, Plant Production

“Through West Virginia’s Adopt-A-Highway Program, we maintain a section of Route 20, which extends about a mile in each direction from Harrison’s main gate,” said Jessica Shaffer, advanced scientist, Harrison Power Station. “By removing trash from this portion of roadway, we are keeping the entrance to our station clean for employees, contractors and visitors.”

Members of Harrison’s Sustainability Team held a cleanup day – coordinated by event leader Lysle Sites – on April 12, their fifth since joining the Adopt-A-Highway program in 2021. During the activity, nine volunteers collected 21 bags of trash and two bags of recyclable materials. For total numbers from all five Harrison cleanup events, check out the sidebar.

The Adopt-A-Highway Program provides safety vests and gloves for all volunteers, as well as orange trash bags, picker sticks and signs. The program requires that each participating group conduct at least two cleanup events per year.

“FirstEnergy’s core value of Stewardship states that we positively impact our customers, communities and other stakeholders, and strive to protect the environment – we take this directive seriously at Harrison Power Station,” said Lysle, an engineer at the station. “Since our first cleanup event in 2021, we’ve removed nearly 5,000 pounds of trash and more than 1,500 pounds of recyclable materials from the road in front of our station.”

The West Virginia Adopt-A-Highway Program was established in the late 1980s to encourage the state’s residents to help protect the environment by eliminating highway litter. Its objective is to increase public awareness and serve as an educational tool by focusing on the consequences that result when littering is allowed to continue unchecked. The program is co-sponsored by West Virginia’s Division of Highways and the Department of Environmental Protection.

The Harrison Sustainability Team would like to thank contract employees from Janco who provide janitorial services for the station. These contractors have worked side-by-side with Harrison employees during each of the station’s five cleanup days, and the events would not have been as successful without their efforts.

The approximately two-mile stretch of road adopted by Harrison employees leads from the U.S. Army Corporal John Belcastro Bridge – which connects Haywood and Lumberport – to a housing community along Route 20.