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Just a few weeks after receiving the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence, the Combined Support & Maintenance Shop (CSMS) East of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in Lebanon County was one of twelve local and state governments, industries and citizen groups to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its efforts in working to make the air cleaner nationwide.
The CSMS has become the model for pollution prevention in the Army National Guard by replacing its solvent-borne coating with new water dispersible Chemical Agent Resistant Coatings (CARC) for routine surface coating operations.
The water dispersible CARC emits virtually no hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and the volatile organic compounds (VOC) content is lower than the standard solvent based CARC used throughout the Army, dramatically reducing emissions of these pollutants.
It is estimated that switching to water dispersible CARC will reduce VOC emissions by 2.6 tons in the first year. Using water dispersible CARC reduces overspray during the coating process which decreases the volume of paint used and the particulates emitted. Reduced overspray along with less frequent repainting means a reduction in human exposure to the paint.
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