Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board
The Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB) is established in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) to provide consensus advice, information and recommendations on issues related to:
- Enhancing EPA's measurement programs
- Facilitating the operation and expansion of a national environmental accreditation program
Members of ELAB
ELAB is composed of approximately 15 members who are representative of the stakeholder community. Members are selected who have relevant backgrounds and expertise and may include individuals from:
- Trade associations for the environmental laboratory industry
- Trade associations from EPA's regulated community
- Environmental public interest groups
- Academia
- Federal, local and tribal governments
- Laboratory assessment bodies
All ELAB meetings are open to the public and any interested persons may attend at any time. Below is the current membership roster for the Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB).
| ELAB Member | Representing | Contact Information |
|---|---|---|
| Ms. Patricia M. Carvajal, Chair | Watershed/Restoration | San Antonio River Authority P O Box 839980 San Antonio, TX 78283-9980 Phone: (210) 302-3672 Patricia Carvajal (pmcarvajal@sara-tx.org) |
| Dr. A. Dallas Wait, Vice Chair | Consumer Product Ind. | Gradient 20 University Road Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: (617) 395-5000 A. Dallas Wait (dwait@gradientcorp.com) |
| Ms. Lara P. Phelps, DFO | USEPA | USEPA/OSA . 109 T.W. Alexander Drive (E243-05) Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 Phone: (919) 541-5544 Lara Phelps (phelps.lara@epa.gov) |
| Dr. Michael F. Delaney | Massachusetts Water Resources Auth. | Massachusetts Water Resources Auth. 190 Tafts Ave. Winthrop, MA 02152 Phone: (617) 660-7801 Michael Delaney (mike.delaney@mwra.com) |
| Mr. Michael Flournoy | Eurofins Env. Testing US | Eurofins Frontier Global Sciences Inc. 11720 North Creek Parkway N., Suite 400 Bothell, WA 98011 Phone: (425) 686-3562 Michael Flournoy (michaelflournoy@eurofinsus.com) |
| Dr. Deyuan (Kitty) Kong | Chevron |
Energy Technology Company |
| Ms. Sylvia (Silky) S. Labie | Sm Third Party Assessors | Env. Lab. Consulting and Tech., LLC P O Box 13324 Tallahassee, FL 32317-3324 Phone: (850) 656-6298 Sylvia Labie (elcat-llc@comcast.net) |
| Dr. Henry Leibovitz | APHL | Rhode Island State Health Laboratories 50 Orms Street Providence, RI 02904 Phone (401) 222-5578 Henry Leibovitz (henry.leibovitz@health.ri.gov) |
| Dr. Mahesh P. Pujari | NACWA | Env. Monitoring Div., City of Los Angeles 12000 Vista Del Mar Playa del Ray, CA 90293 Phone: (310) 648-5836 Mahesh Pujari (mahesh.pujari@lacity.org) |
| Ms. Patsy Root | Lab. Product Developers | IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. 1 IDEXX Drive Westbrook, ME 04092 Phone: (207) 556-8947 Patsy Root (Patsy-Root@IDEXX.com) |
| Ms. Aurora Shields | Wastewater Laboratories | City of Lawrence, Kansas 720 W 3rd Street Lawrence, KS 66044 Phone: (785) 832-7817 Aurora Shields (ashields@lawrenceks.org) |
| Ms. Michelle L. Wade | Laboratory Consulting | Wade Consulting & Solutions 990 E 1587 Road Lawrence, KS 66046 Phone: (913) 449-5223 Michelle Wade (michellefromks@gmail.com) |
Meetings and Events Calendar for ELAB
The upcoming schedule of Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB) meetings and other events relevant to the work of the board are listed below. Please contact the Designated Federal Official (DFO), Lara Phelps (phelps.lara@epa.gov) or (919) 541-5544, if you are interested in joining any of the board's meetings via teleconference.
| Meeting/Event | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| ELAB Monthly Teleconference | 4/15/15 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm (ET) |
| ELAB Monthly Teleconference | 5/20/15 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm (ET) |
| ELAB Monthly Teleconference | 6/17/15 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm (ET) |
| ELAB Face-to-Face Meeting in Chicago, IL | 7/13/15 | 1:00 - 5:00 pm (CT) |
| Forum on Laboratory Accreditation; Chicago, IL | 7/13/15-7/17/15 | Schedule Varies |
| ELAB Monthly Teleconference | 8/19/15 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm (ET) |
| ELAB Monthly Teleconference | 9/16/15 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm (ET) |
| ELAB Monthly Teleconference | 10/21/15 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm (ET) |
| ELAB Monthly Teleconference | 11/18/15 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm (ET) |
| ELAB Monthly Teleconference | 12/16/15 | 1:00 - 3:00 pm (ET) |
ELAB History and Mission
In 1995, Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB) was initially solely established to solicit consensus advice from the environmental laboratory community on the formation of the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC) process and standards. Since then, ELAB’s Charter has been expanded to now provide consensus advice, information and recommendations to:
- Forum on Environmental Measurements (FEM)
- EPA’s Science Advisor
- EPA’s Administrator
ELAB enhances the EPA’s measurement programs in areas such as:
- Validating and disseminating methods for sample collection and for biological, chemical, radiological and toxicological analysis
- Developing scientifically rigorous, statistically sound and representative measurements
- Employing the performance paradigm in environmental monitoring and regulatory programs
- Improving communications and outreach between EPA and its stakeholder communities
- Employing a quality systems approach that ensures that the data gathered and used by the Agency are of known and documented quality
ELAB facilitates the operation and expansion of a national environmental accreditation program. In this regard, ELAB will provide advice and recommendations to EPA on issues that impact the non-governmental community that are related to:
- The operation and expansion of a national environmental accreditation program characterized by an acceptance of the program by all states and suitable for accrediting environmental laboratories or entities of all sizes and types
- Steps that need to be taken in order to facilitate the further implementation of the performance paradigm in the nation’s environmental monitoring and accreditation programs