Acquired By Global Testing Firm, York Labs Will Stay In Nyack

NYACK, NY — A Nyack business that actually expanded during the pandemic has been bought by an international environmental testing company — a move which is expected to help it grow its footprint across the United States.

York Analytical Laboratories is among the largest owner-operated environmental labs in the Northeast, testing for all kinds of contaminants in soil, wastewater, drinking water, groundwater and the air.

Being in New York, which developed stringent regulations early on to limit PFAS, the "forever chemicals" that don’t break down over time and have been linked to serious health effects including cancer, premature death, asthma, and infertility, the lab was driven five years ago to create technology to identify PFAS in very small amounts. York Labs bought a $2 million instrumentation system to be able to find those parts per trillion and designed a new rapid test to detect whether there are harmful levels of the chemical in public water sources, building materials, and common household products.

Business went through the roof, owner Michael Beckerich told Patch. SEE: New York Lab At Forefront Of Search To Find Dangerous PFAS

Last week, the EPA issued its new rule against any PFAS in public water systems.

"The EPA timing is not coincidental with the investment in our business," he said. "We’re just a proof point that these regulations are tied to where the money’s heading."

The lab, which moved its headquarters to Nyack from Connecticut under the state's START-UP NY program, has a partnership with Rockland Community College. It has 200+ employees and labs and client service centers in Nyack and Queens; Stratford and Newtown in Connecticut, and Toms River, New Jersey. And now the company that Beckerich's father founded 30 years ago has been acquired by ALS Limited, a global technology and laboratory testing company.

"This vision that we had for our little lab is working. It’s working so fast. It’s been a roller coaster ride" Beckerich told Patch. "Ten years ago private equity investors would never have bought into an environmental laboratory."

What has changed?

"I think people figured out the infrastructure needs of US cities and towns is enormous and that’s not going to change. From a financial standpoint that’s why we got noticed," he said. "Private equity groups have aggressively been investing in infrastructure companies from construction to environmental consulting. That never happened before."

Take the EPA's new regulations. The 'forever chemicals' were ubiquitous, used in everything from food packaging and cookware to dental floss and other personal care items to children’s toys and firefighting foams. At least 45 percent of U.S. water systems had one or more types of PFAS chemicals, according to a 2023 study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The strict new limits announced last week on PFAS in public water systems — such as the ones found in Newburgh, Bedford and elsewhere in the Hudson Valley in the past decade — mean they'll all need new filtration systems and ways to test.

"Obviously it impacts everybody," Beckerich said.

Still, he said, "Drinking water is just one sliver of this. If you’re moving dirt you have to test it for PFAS. When you’re digging up the street because a pipe broke, now you need to test the dirt."

It's going to continue to evolve, as it has been, he said, pointing out that during the pandemic, they added homeowners to their clients.

"People moving out of the city with high incomes who were able to invest a lot in a home, from Armonk to Wappingers Falls they were spending $30-60,000 on filtration systems and testing for everything from radon to PFAS. We in the past didn’t deal with homeowners. We were dealing with airlines, NYC, the Javits Center. Now consumers are demanding this."

Meanwhile, Beckerich is happy to be able to give bonuses and make plans.

"With the investment I now have from this massive laboratory company — the idea is doing business in the US is a little different because every state has different regulations — our plan is to double the size of the business."

Beckerich says he'll stay in Nyack.

"I’m 51, I’m not going anywhere," he said. "I live here, my folks are here. It’s not just Turiello’s Pizza. I need to be able to walk to Maureen’s Jazz Cellar on Thursdays for Dead Night."

SEE ALSO:

• HV No Stranger To Toxic Water Chemicals EPA Will Limit Strictly
• NYS To Sue Firefighting Foam Manufacturers
• Rockland Residents Urge NY To More Cleanup Of 'Forever Chemicals'
• State to Fund Interim Water Supplies for Newburgh
• Long Island Drinking Water Has Most Contaminants In The State