Geochemical Testing was formed in 1975 as a coal analysis laboratory. The company grew quickly to become a highly respected provider of sampling and analytical laboratory testing services to the coal industry. With the passage of many environmental laws and regulations in the late 70’s Geochemical Testing branched out into environmental testing. By the early 1990s, environmental testing started to grow rapidly and now represents 75% of our business activity. We were in the first group of laboratories to receive NELAP accreditation five years prior to its becoming mandated. With this accreditation we were able to rapidly expand our reach to almost all states east of the Mississippi. We hold certifications as far south and west as Louisiana and north and east to New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
With Tim Bergstresser at the helm as both owner and lab director for the past six years we have aggressively expanded our capabilities; adding over 3000 sq. ft. of new space, remodeling, and re-purposing much of the original laboratory. We have made substantial capital improvements each year with a large allocation to new or improved instruments. We have also made major investments in staff, which we have increased by over 40 percent in those 6 years. We are now one of the largest employers of scientists graduating from our local colleges, with approximately one half of our staff with science degrees. Our laboratory is one of the largest labs in the state that is family owned and not part of a large conglomerate and our lab is larger than the average size of the labs in those conglomerates.
We provide technical field services to the full range of our clients, both coal and environmental. We have specially fitted trucks that allow our samplers to collect a representative coal sample easily and safely from long trains of railroad coal cars. On the environmental side we have specially outfitted trucks and a Gator, all with off-road capabilities that allow us to sample areas with little or no access. Groundwater samples from monitoring wells at landfills or other facilities that need to comply with environmental monitoring regulations represent a major portion of our business. We provide sampling and or analytical services to over 120 landfills in thirteen states. Our samplers also collect production water, frack water, drill cuttings, soil samples and drinking water samples for Marcellus/Utica related industries. When the environmental samples are returned to the laboratory, they are received, logged in, refrigerated, and dispersed to the various laboratory departments for analysis. Coal samples go through prep work, which includes a series of crushing, pulverizing, and splitting processes prior to being sent to various departments to determine elemental qualities, combustion characteristics, and physical properties.
Many of our customers have been with us for decades and we have grown along with them. We have sought out new avenues of growth in industries such as Oil and Gas in the Marcellus and Utica regions. We have continued to expand our technical range to include more methods of analysis and lower limits of detection, giving us an advantage over much of our competition. The geographical range we work in continues to expand and now encompasses 15 states in the eastern United States. Our presence in neighboring states is building as we add customers in our main niche industries.
Geochemical Testing has changed and adapted over the years, foreseeing and following dynamic changes to our industry. Our work force has grown both in number and cumulative knowledge base. Employee retention and the resulting decade’s long experience of our analysts and client support team enhance every interaction with our clients. We give our clients legally defensible results quickly, efficiently, and in a manner that supports their work rather than add to it. Since our business is one of providing data, a robust Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) that is coupled with a user friendly Internet Portal is essential for our clients.
Over the past 40 years we have centered our efforts on satisfying our clients’ evolving needs and upholding our core values. Our core value of providing unparalleled customer service by listening and responding to our customers has brought us a long way. In the past 3 years we have improved and expanded our facility with new instruments and efficiencies as we continue to respond to customer needs for faster turn around time, lower level detection limits and a greater array of analytical abilities.
Our long term clients know us by our familiar green and yellow logo which has come to represent who we are; a company based on serving and responding to our customers and their evolving analytical and technical field service needs. Whether you are a long term client, a new one, or even one just considering our services... Our ears are open!
Next time you are in the Somerset Pennsylvania area... call us for a tour of our facility!
GEOCHEMICAL TESTING
Energy and Environmental Services
2005 N Center Avenue, Somerset, PA 15501
Office: (814) 443-1671 Toll Free: (800) 767-0677 Fax: (814) 445-6729
© 2015 Coal and Environmental Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
