BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has awarded $69,989 to North Smithfield-based Ion Signature Technology Inc. for the research and development of green technology.

The EPA said the grant will fund the development of an In Situ thermal extraction detection system to analyze environmental pollutants.

The system would “sniff” the ground for the presence of pollutants and identify the location and quantity of any pollutants it discovers.

Information generated by the new technology would help EPA better manage pollution site investigations and cleanup, and also reduce the cost of pollution remediation.

The EPA also awarded similar-sized grants to Active Spectrum Inc. of Amherst, N.H., and Fuss & O’Neill of Manchester, Conn. The grants were issued under EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

Ion Signature Technology Inc. is a scientific software development company focusing on products to assist in the high volume, high sensitivity detection of chemicals in industries where compound identity and concentration is mission-critical. To learn more, visit www.IonSigTech.com.

For additional news and information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s New England (Region 1) office in Boston, visit www.epa.gov/region1. To learn more about the EPA’s Agency’s Small Business Innovation Research program, visit epa.gov/ncer/sbir/.