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Advanced Environmental Monitoring Contracts Awarded

Release Date: 06/30/2004
Contact Information:


Suzanne Ackerman, 202-564-7819 / ackerman.suzanne@epa.gov

(06/30/04) To foster commercial ventures that create jobs and benefit the environment, EPA awarded four companies a total of $900,000 to develop new environmental measurement and monitoring technologies through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. EPA is one of 12 federal agencies that participate in the SBIR Program, enacted in 1982 to strengthen the role of small businesses in federal research and development and to promote U.S. technical innovation. To participate in SBIR, a small business must have less than 500 employees and the business must be more than 50 percent owned by U.S. citizens. EIC Laboratories, Inc. of Norwood, Mass. will develop a portable automated sensor to detect toxins in blue-green algae blooms in water supplies. This new sensor will weigh approximately 10 pounds and detect different toxins through a simple dipstick arrangement, eliminating the need for time-consuming techniques that could only be performed in a laboratory. Fort Environmental Laboratories, Inc. of Stillwater, Okla. will continue development of a biological monitor to detect endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment, and a standardized, laboratory-based amphibian model. OPOTEK, Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif. will create a compact portable instrument for high-sensitivity measurements of trace hydrocarbon vapors. The benefit of this technology will be real-time field measurement of hazardous air pollutants from both mobile and stationary sources. Vescent Photonics, Inc. of Denver, Colo. will continue work on new laser technology that can detect a broad array of air contaminants at parts per trillion levels. For more information, contact James Gallup at gallup.james@epa.gov or visit: https://www.epa.gov/ncer/sbir.