[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 59 (Thursday, March 27, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17147-17149]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06830]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9908-84-OA]
Request for Nominations for the Clean Air Scientific Advisory
Committee (CASAC) Review Panel for Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency)
Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is seeking nominations of
nationally recognized experts for consideration for membership on a new
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Review Panel on
scientific assessments to support EPA's decisions on secondary
(welfare-based) air quality standards for oxides of nitrogen
(NOX) and oxides of sulfur (SOX).
DATES: New nominations should be submitted by April 17, 2014.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact
Dr. Holly Stallworth, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science
Advisory Board (1400R), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460; via telephone/voice
mail: (202) 564-2073 or email at [email protected]. General
information concerning the CASAC can be found on the EPA Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/casac.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CASAC was established pursuant to the
Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 1977, codified at 42 U.S.C.
7409(d)(2), to review air quality criteria and NAAQS and recommend any
new NAAQS and revisions of existing criteria and NAAQS as may be
appropriate. The CASAC shall also provide advice, information, and
recommendations to the Administrator on the scientific and technical
aspects of issues related to the criteria for air quality standards,
research related to air quality, sources of air pollution, and of
adverse effects which may result from various strategies to attain and
maintain air quality standards. The CASAC is a Federal Advisory
Committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5
U.S.C., App. 2. Section 109(d)(1) of the CAA requires that the Agency
periodically review and revise, as appropriate, the air quality
criteria and the NAAQS for the six ``criteria'' air pollutants,
including NOX and SOX. EPA is currently preparing
to review the secondary (welfare-based) air quality criteria for
NOX and SOX.
The SAB Staff Office is establishing a panel of experts to augment
the chartered CASAC to provide EPA advice on its scientific assessments
on this topic. The CASAC and the CASAC NOX and
SOX Secondary Review Panel will comply with the provisions
of FACA and all appropriate EPA and SAB Staff Office procedural
policies.
This Federal Register notice seeks nominations of nationally-
recognized experts regarding NOX and SOX in one
or more of the following disciplines. (a) Ecological Effects. Expertise
in evaluation of the effects of exposure to gas-phase oxides of
nitrogen and sulfur, nitrogen deposition and acidification caused by
deposition of nitrogen and sulfur, on agricultural crops and natural
ecosystems and their components, both flora and fauna, ranging from
biochemical/sub-cellular effects on organisms to increasingly more
complex levels of ecosystem organization and biodiversity. Appropriate
expertise disciplines include: aquatic chemistry; aquatic ecology/
biology; limnology; terrestrial ecology; forest ecology; grassland
ecology; rangeland ecology; terrestrial/aquatic biogeochemistry; marine
and estuarine ecology; landscape ecology; terrestrial/aquatic nutrient
cycling; and terrestrial/aquatic wildlife biology and soil chemistry.
(b) Other Welfare Effects. Expertise in the evaluation of the effects
of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur and acid deposition on public welfare
including damage to materials, and the interactions of these pollutants
to affect global climate conditions. (c) Ecosystem Exposure and Risk
Assessment/Modeling. Expertise in terrestrial and aquatic or
biogeochemical modeling across a range of scales from local watershed
to landscape to continental, static and dynamic ecosystem response
models, integrated assessment models, identification of bio-indicators
useful for tracking ecosystem change, methods and approaches available
to estimate total loadings of sulfur and nitrogen species to
ecosystems, and the current state of critical loads science and
application. Expertise in modeling sensitivity of ecosystems to climate
change as it relates to effects from nitrogen and sulfur oxides
exposure. (d) Ecosystem services and resource valuation. Expertise in
connecting ecological effects to incremental changes in provision of
various final ecosystem services, both aquatic and terrestrial and
subsequent incremental changes in the value of those services monetary
or nonmonetary. (e) Atmospheric Science. Expertise in physical and
chemical properties of oxides of nitrogen, reduced and organic forms of
nitrogen, and oxides of sulfur; atmospheric processes involved in their
formation and transport on urban to global scales; transformation of
these pollutants in the atmosphere; and movement of the pollutants
between media through deposition and other such mechanisms. Also,
expertise in the evaluation of natural and anthropogenic sources and
emissions of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur; pertinent monitoring or
measurement methods for the atmospheric concentration and deposition of
these pollutants; and spatial and temporal trends in their atmospheric
concentrations and deposition.
Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals for
consideration of membership on the CASAC Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur
Secondary Review Panel in the areas of expertise described above.
Nominations should be submitted in electronic format through the EPA
Web site: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/participatepanelformation?OpenDocument. To receive full consideration,
nominations should include all of the information requested below.
EPA's SAB Staff Office requests contact information about the
person making the nomination; contact information about the nominee;
the disciplinary and specific areas of expertise of the nominee; the
nominee's resume or curriculum vitae; sources of recent grant and/or
contract support; and a biographical sketch of the nominee indicating
current position, educational background, research activities, and
recent service on other national advisory committees or national
professional organizations.
Persons having questions about the nomination procedures, or who
are unable to submit nominations through the SAB Web site, should
contact Dr. Stallworth as noted above. Nominations should be submitted
in time to arrive no later than April 17, 2014. EPA values and welcomes
diversity. In an effort to obtain nominations of diverse candidates,
EPA encourages nominations of women and men of all racial and ethnic
groups.
The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of nominations.
The names and biosketches of qualified nominees identified by
respondents to this Federal Register notice, and additional experts
identified by the SAB Staff will be posted in a List of Candidates for
the NOX and SOX Secondary Review Panel on the SAB
Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstractivites/NOx%20SOx%20Secondary%20NAAQS%20Review?OpenDocument.
Public comments on the List of Candidates will be accepted for 21 days.
The public will be requested to provide relevant information or other
documentation on nominees that the
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SAB Staff Office should consider in evaluating candidates.
For the EPA SAB Staff Office, a balanced subcommittee or review
panel includes candidates who possess the necessary domains of
knowledge, the relevant scientific perspectives (which, among other
factors, can be influenced by work history and affiliation), and the
collective breadth of experience to adequately address the charge. In
forming this expert panel, the SAB Staff Office will consider public
comments on the List of Candidates, information provided by the
candidates themselves, and background information independently
gathered by the SAB Staff Office. Selection criteria to be used for
panel membership include: (a) Scientific and/or technical expertise,
knowledge, and experience (primary factors); (b) availability and
willingness to serve; (c) absence of financial conflicts of interest;
(d) absence of an appearance of a loss of impartiality; (e) skills
working in committees, subcommittees and advisory panels; and, (f) for
the panel as a whole, diversity of expertise and scientific points of
view.
The SAB Staff Office's evaluation of an absence of financial
conflicts of interest will include a review of the ``Confidential
Financial Disclosure Form for Special Government Employees Serving on
Federal Advisory Committees at the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency'' (EPA Form 3110-48). This confidential form allows government
officials to determine whether there is a statutory conflict between a
person's public responsibilities (which include membership on an EPA
federal advisory committee) and private interests and activities, or
the appearance of a loss of impartiality, as defined by federal
regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded from the following
Web address http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/ethics?OpenDocument. The EPA provides information about ethics for
advisory members at the following Web address: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/ethics?OpenDocument.
The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects
subcommittees and review panels is described in the following document:
Overview of the Panel Formation Process at the Environmental Protection
Agency Science Advisory Board (EPA-SAB-EC-02-010), which is posted on
the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf.
Dated: March 18, 2014.
Thomas H. Brennan,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-06830 Filed 3-26-14; 8:45 am]
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