In 2010, SL made an asset purchase of AC&S, Inc. lab instrumentation, equipment and other assets. AC&S is a chemical manufacturing and blending company located in Nitro, WV that operated an environmental lab. The lab was used primary for internal quality control for their own manufacturing processes. However, AC&S also provided analytical services to other commercial businesses, one of which was Standard Labs.
The asset purchase created a new environmental laboratory called Standard Environmental. At that time, Standard Environmental had the most high-end Instrumentation (GSMS, ICPMS, and low-level Hg analysis) than all other SL environmental / water testing labs. Through Standard Environmental, SL believed it could better service its existing clients, which were mainly coal operators, and it could also provide environmental testing in other industries, like waste water treatment plants and large industrial plants.
Sharron Blankenship was the manager for Standard Environmental. Sharon had over 30 years of experience in SL’s coal labs and was looking for a new challenge before she retired. Sharon’s major accomplishments were renovating the South Charleston lab to house the new Standard Environmental instruments and integrate the AC&S staff to SL’s culture and way of doing business.
Unfortunately, Standard Environmental did not exist very long. Like many new businesses, it struggled growing its customer base. In 2012, Standard Labs learned a new major international competitor, ALS Global, would be setting up a new lab in Charleston, WV. Rather than having to compete against another laboratory in an already saturated market, SL chose sell Standard Environmental’s assets to ALS and close the business.