Traveling Through a Historic Storm to Expand EPA Onsite Analytical Capacity During an Emergency

Hurricane Harvey began its historic assault on the Gulf Coast region in late August 2017. While the storm was still slowly churning across Texas and Louisiana, EPA Region 6 requested analytical support from the mobile laboratory units CSS operates for EPA.  We mobilized two analytical units from Castle Rock, CO towards the requested destination of Corpus Christi, TX.  However, EPA’s orders changed over the course of the next day in response to newly emerging needs.  As a result, two CSS chemists flew to Corpus Christi, then drove more than five hours through heavy rain to San Antonio and then to the Region 6 laboratory in Houston before finally meeting up with the redirected mobile laboratory units.  By the following day, the units were ready to receive and analyze samples, handling a total of 67 water samples and 1 soil sludge matrix from 16 different sites over a two-week period. Preliminary results were submitted to EPA within 48 hours, helping the Agency protect the affected communities from volatile and semi-volatile contaminants and speed cleanup efforts.

Additional Projects

SUBSA Implementation Partner

SUBSA (Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules)  SUBSA is a high-temperature furnace on the International Space Station (ISS) that melts materials at a controlled rate, holds at maximum temperature to stabilize, and then solidifies at a precise cooling rate via a gradient freeze technique in a microgravity environment. A transparent zone in SUBSA enables…

IT Support to NOAA Fisheries

Our IT services support included developing and integrating information management systems central to NOAA Fisheries’ management and protection of living marine resources and their habitats

Operation and Maintenance of High Throughput Mobile Laboratory Units

Analytical Support for EPA’s Consequence Management Advisory Division (CMAD) – CSS operates and maintains 10 mobile analytical laboratories under contract with EPA’s Office of Emergency Management.

Emergency Preparedness & Response

We help our clients prepare for and protect the health and environment of communities after disasters and hazmat releases.

Human Health Risk Assessment

We help advance the understanding of chemical effects on people and the environment.

Space Science Application Support & Operations

We deliver scientific support to advance our clients’ research goals.

Safety, Health, & Environmental Compliance

We provide our clients with tools to protect their workforce, the public, and the environment.

IT Services

Our IT solutions meet clients’ evolving needs.

Environmental Resource Assessment & Management

We apply science to address challenges affecting the nation’s natural resources.

Satellite Science & Environmental Intelligence

Helping create a more environmentally sustainable, weather-ready, and secure nation through application of earth observation data  

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