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Emergency Response Support for the Republican National Convention
CSS employee owners on contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Portable High-throughput Integrated Laboratory Identification System — a mobile analytical unit known as PHILIS — provided emergency response support for the 2024 Republican National Convention. PHILIS mobile laboratory units are designed to provide onsite analysis of environmental conditions, including air and soil samples, contaminated with chemicals. While the convention was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the team was stationed on stand-by in a nearby location in Illinois to provide emergency response for the event of around 50,000 individuals.
The PHILIS team was prepared to support analysis of
- Volatile organic compounds for liquid, solid and air matrices by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS)Semi-volatile organic compounds analysis for liquid and solid by GCMS
- Opioids for liquid, solid and wipe matrices by GCMS-Large Volume Injections (LVI)
- Chemical agent for liquids, solid and wipe matrices by GCMS-LVI
- Various forms of organophosphate nerve agent and venomous agent X for liquid, solid and wipe matrices by ultra performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (UPLCMSMS)
- Opioids for liquid, solid and wipe matrices by UPLCMSMS
Throughout the deployment, the team received many visitors, several of them from Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training and exercise and some on scene coordinators from Region 5. The team analyzed a handful of ‘mock’ air samples at the RNC, which could be characterized as an informal exercise.
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New Heavily Desired High Resolution Land Cover Data for the U.S.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently announced the launch of the long desired high-resolution coastal land cover data. This highly anticipated data are available for most coastal areas of the U.S., including Alaska and the U.S. territories. CSS employee owners contributed to the release of this data set by participating in production activities and…
Responding to HazMat Spills
CSS supports several Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) campuses throughout the U.S. On-site CSS personnel are trained in hazardous material spill response and clean-up and provide this support within buildings and throughout campuses. As part of our contract with the CDC Hazardous Waste Program, CSS hazmat-trained employee owners are responsible for safely collecting,…
Expanding Our Offshore Wind Team
We’ve recently added several staff to bolster the offshore wind team at NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. With this full team of 13, our employee owners are able to provide more focused support in their areas of expertise, including mapping and spatial modeling, data collection, communications, project management, and partner engagement. Through this…