Historic Look at Petrochem

I read with great interest your article (“After the Boom,” Ventura County Life, May 28) about the old Petrochem plant. My father, Harry Lyon, and I founded USA Petrochem in the early ‘70s with a vision of creating jobs and a tax base with a state-of-the-art, environmentally sensitive refinery, utilizing the old chemical fertilizer plant built in the early ‘50s.

At great financial risk and personal hardship, we defied the odds and were successful in creating a local refinery. I’m proud to have been a part of the Petrochem family. I have fond memories of those times when we were providing jobs, paying taxes and being an important part of the business community. Petrochem’s sales approached a billion dollars annually.

I note from your articles that USA Petroleum is on the verge of selling the property to an unnamed firm from Pakistan. I, for one, hope for Ventura’s sake that USA Petroleum finds success in developing that property. Ventura’s tax base is eroding. Jobs are being lost. The economy is hurting. At some point, considerations such as these need to go hand-in-hand with environmental concerns.

I’m certain that my father, were he still alive, would be pleased with the direction that is being taken in determining the future of this property that he had so much of his time, money and energy invested in.

ED LYON, Ventura