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Claymont Man Assists in Shuttle Recovery Project

Release Date: 2/5/2003
Contact Information: Roy Seneca, (215) 814-5567

Roy Seneca, (215) 814-5567

PHILADELPHIA – A Delaware man is among nearly 60 hazardous materials experts from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who traveled to Lufkin, Texas to assist with the cataloging, sampling, packaging, and transporting of debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Robert F. Kelly of Claymont, Del., works as an on-scene coordinator for the Hazardous Site Cleanup Division of EPA’s mid-Atlantic regional office in Philadelphia. He is participating on teams of federal representatives from a variety of agencies.

As an on-scene coordinator, Kelly is trained to respond to emergency situations that could involve contact with hazardous materials. EPA is assisting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the recovery project by using it’s national response network that is designed to deploy quickly to assist in emergency situations, and ensure our efforts are closely coordinated with federal, state and local responders.

EPA has also mobilized Airborne Spectral Photo-Imaging of Environmental Contaminants (ASPECT) aircraft to help locate debris using infrared sensors to detect hazardous chemicals and deployed the Trace Atmospheric Gas Analyzer bus – a mobile air lab – to provide mobile analytical support.