[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 153 (Tuesday, August 9, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52682-52684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18881]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9950-42-OA]
Request for Nominations for a Science Advisory Board Panel To
Review Risk and Technology Review Screening Methods
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office requests
public nominations of scientific experts to form a Panel to review the
draft EPA report entitled ``Screening Methodologies to Support Risk and
Technology Reviews (RTR).'' This draft report describes newly developed
screening methods designed to assess the risk to public health and the
environment that would remain after stationary sources of hazardous air
pollutants come into compliance with the EPA's Maximum Available
Control Technologies (MACT) standards.
DATES: Nominations should be submitted by August 30, 2016 per the
instructions below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing
further information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations
may contact the Designated Federal Officer. Nominators unable to submit
nominations electronically as described below may contact the
Designated Federal Officer for assistance. General information
concerning the EPA SAB can be found at the EPA SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The SAB (42 U.S.C. 4365) is a chartered Federal
Advisory Committee that provides independent scientific and technical
peer review, advice, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on
the technical basis for EPA actions. As a Federal Advisory Committee,
the SAB conducts business in accordance with the Federal Advisory
Committee Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. 2) and related regulations. The SAB
RTR Methods Review Panel will provide advice through the chartered SAB
on scientific and technical issues related to assessing risks to public
health and the
[[Page 52683]]
environment from hazardous air pollutants. The SAB and this Panel will
comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office
procedural policies.
EPA's Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) has prepared a draft report
entitled ``Screening Methodologies to Support Risk and Technology
Reviews (RTR): A Case Study Analysis.'' The Clean Air Act (CAA)
establishes a two-stage regulatory process for addressing emissions of
hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from stationary sources. In the first
stage, the CAA requires the EPA to develop technology-based standards,
known as Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards, for
categories of industrial sources. In the second stage, the EPA must
review each MACT standard at least every eight years and revise them as
necessary, taking into account developments in practices, processes and
control technologies. EPA must also conduct an assessment of the health
and environmental risks that remain after stationary sources come into
compliance with the MACT standards. Periodically, the SAB is asked to
review the methods that OAR uses to estimate risks as these methods
evolve or as new methods are developed. Thus, OAR has requested the SAB
to review EPA's draft report that describes newly enhanced screening
methods designed to estimate the potential risks to public health and
the environment that would remain after stationary sources of HAPs come
into compliance with EPA's MACT standards. These include screening
methods to estimate the potential for multi-pathway risks (e.g.,
ingestion, inhalation) from persistent and bioaccumulative HAPs,
screening methods to estimate potential environmental risks, and recent
enhancements to the EPA's inhalation risk assessment methodology. The
SAB Staff Office is forming an expert panel, the SAB RTR Methods Review
Panel, under the auspices of the Chartered SAB to conduct this review.
Technical Contact for EPA's draft report: For information
concerning the draft report ``Screening Methodologies to Support Risk
and Technology Reviews (RTR): A Case Study Analysis'' please contact
Dr. Michael Stewart by email at [email protected] or phone (919)
541-7524.
Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is seeking
nominations of nationally and internationally recognized scientists
with demonstrated expertise in the following disciplines: Human health
risk assessment, ecological risk assessment, exposure assessment,
toxicology, ecology, aquatic toxicology, air toxics, and dispersion
modeling. Additional information about this advisory activity is
available on the SAB Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/RTR%20Screening%20Methods%20Review?OpenDocument. Questions regarding
this advisory activity should be directed to Dr. Suhair Shallal,
Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB Staff Office, by telephone/voice
mail at (202) 564-2057, by fax at (202) 565-2098, or via email at
[email protected].
Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals in the areas
of expertise described above for possible service on the SAB RTR
Methods Review Panel identified in this notice. Individuals may self-
nominate. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format
(preferred over hard copy) following the instructions for ``Nominating
Experts to Advisory Panels and Ad Hoc Committees Being Formed,''
provided on the SAB Web site (see the ``Nomination of Experts'' link
under ``Current Activities'' at http://www.epa.gov/sab). 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. Shallal as indicated above in this notice. Nominations
should be submitted in time to arrive no later than August 30, 2016.
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 Office, will be posted in a List of
Candidates for the panel on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.
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 SAB Staff Office should consider in
evaluating candidates.
For the EPA SAB Staff Office a balanced 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 the expert
panel, the SAB Staff Office will consider public comments on the Lists
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 Environmental Protection Agency Special
Government Employees'' (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 URL address http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/ethics?OpenDocument.
The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects members
for 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 https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/
sabproduct.nsf/WebFiles/OverviewPanelForm/$File/ec02010.pdf.
[[Page 52684]]
Dated: August 3, 2016.
Thomas H. Brennan,
Deputy Director, Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2016-18881 Filed 8-8-16; 8:45 am]
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