{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=2ae5b73b-7761-491c-b4a7-cfb6912353e7", "ILC Dover cuts the ribbon on a new test facility in Frederica", "2014-09-26", "2014", "2014-09", "Democrat", "House", "DE", "Thomas Carper", "C000174", "www.carper.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "FREDERICA, Del. \u2013 Today, ILC Dover opened a new, state-of-the-art test facility in that will be used to test technology and products for homeland security and municipal infrastructure protection.\r\nThe Security component of the facility is funded by the Department of Homeland Security and will be used to test the Resilient Tunnel Plug technology. Novel spin-off technologies for flood protection and mitigation will be tested in a second section of the facility which has been funded by ILC Dover. The Resilient Tunnel Plug program is a Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate effort to provide security to transit systems as protection from flooding in the event of a terrorist attack. The test facility is a full-scale model of a subway tunnel and was originally designed and built for DHS by West Virginia University for testing tunnel plug technologies. The initial test facility hardware was relocated to ILC Dover\u2019s Frederica facility where the development, construction and modification of the test facility to support the efforts of developing the tunnel plug and spin-off flood mitigation technologies was finalized.\r\n\u201cIn 2008, we were approached by the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Science and Technology Directorate to help with an effort to support our nation\u2019s security,\u201d said ILC Dover President Fran DiNuzzo. \u201cThey approached us with the idea of designing a large plug that would hold back 30 feet of water inside a tunnel in the unfortunate event of a terrorist attack. Since that time we have enjoyed a great working relationship with the team at the Department of Homeland Security and the result of these efforts is the Resilient Tunnel Plug security system that protects American lives and our infrastructure. \u00a0In addition, following Superstorm Sandy in October of 2012, we were able to leverage lessons learned from this program and work with the City of New York to develop a series of novel Flood Protection Systems that can protect national and international transit operations. New York City represents the first round of this business expansion with protection against the threats of flooding due to storm events and global warming.\u201d\r\n\u201cThe creativity and ingenuity of our partners at ILC Dover, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and West Virginia University have developed and tested several prototypes of this unique inflatable tunnel plug technology,\u201d said DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Reginald Brothers. \u201cThrough their efforts and continued hard work, the nation's transportation systems will be more resilient to terrorist threats and natural disasters.\u201d\r\n\u201cI am proud of our first-class workforce and the exciting things going on right here in the First State,\u201d said U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, (D-Del.). \u201cThe important and potentially life-saving work being done at ILC Dover is a great example of this. This also shows how partnerships between government, business and education have the potential to yield results that can impact not only the safety of our country, but the economy as well. I am thrilled to see this work going on right here in Delaware.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=2ae5b73b-7761-491c-b4a7-cfb6912353e7"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5387278981506824, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}