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LDEQ receives two new mobile labs for air quality screening

Baton Rouge / louisianaradionetwork.com
Jeff Palermo
Nov 13, 2019 | 1:34 PM


LDEQ receives two new mobile labs for air quality screening

The state Department of Environmental Quality receives two new Mobile Air Monitoring Labs, also known as MAMLs.  Assistant secretary for environmental assessment Roger Gingles says the units have all the bells and whistles to help sample and analyze air quality data on-site and in real-time.

“They are very effective if something is going on, whether it is an accidental event or it’s a facility or an area where we’ve had complaints or issues,” said Gingles.

Gingles says thousands of hours went into researching the units prior to making the purchases with funding that came from two civil penalities.

“About $1.6 million for each vehicle.  Those were paid by settlements with the EPA and when we do that, it is called a supplemental environmental project,” said Gingles.

Gingles says the two units are mounted on a 35-foot truck chassis with a custom body to house equipment and supplies.  They will supplement an aging existing unit that is used for similar functionality.  However, with the advanced technology the two new units offer, they are quite unique.

“These are probably, strangely enough, the only two laboratories like this, perhaps in the country,” said Gingles.