[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 160 (Friday, August 19, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48705-48706]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-16491]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7956-6]
Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of an Upcoming
Science Advisory Board Meeting
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
[[Page 48706]]
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a
public teleconference of an SAB Quality Review Committee (QRC) to
review and discuss the SAB Draft Advisory Report on EPA's Regional
Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) Program.
DATES: September 8, 2005. A public telephone conference of the SAB
Quality Review Committee (QRC) will be held on September 8, 2005, from
1 p.m. until 3 p.m. (eastern time).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to
obtain the call-in number and access code for this teleconference may
contact Mr. Thomas O. Miller, Designated Federal Officer, via telephone
at (202) 343-9982 or via e-mail at [email protected]. An agenda and
the documents that are the subject of this teleconference will be
posted on the SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab. The SAB mailing
address is: U.S. EPA, Science Advisory Board (1400F), 1200 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EPA Office of Research and Development
requested a consultation with the SAB to review the methods and
predictive tools used in ReVA, and the effectiveness of the ReVA
integration toolkit (the ReVA Web-based Environmental Decision Toolkit
or EDT) for communicating risk and uncertainty to clients and users.
EPA's ReVA Program develops approaches to conducting comprehensive,
regional-scale environmental assessments that can inform decision-
makers about the magnitude, extent, distribution, and uncertainty of
current and anticipated environmental vulnerabilities. In the context
of ReVA, environmental vulnerabilities are risks of serious degradation
of ecological goods and services that are valued by society. ReVA
approaches make use of existing spatial data to depict: (1) The current
patterns of condition and distribution of resources and human
demographics, (2) variability in sensitivity of resources and human
populations to various stresses, and (3) estimated spatial distribution
of stressors. Future vulnerability estimates derived by ReVA include
syntheses of: (1) Modeled estimates of ecological drivers of change
(i.e. changes in pollution and pollutants, resource extraction, spread
of non-indigenous species, land use change, and climate change) and
resulting changes in stressor patterns; and (2) changes in resource
sensitivity and projected changes in human demographics. The predictive
tools in ReVA provide decision-makers with information about current
and future cumulative stresses and spatially-explicit identification of
anticipated environmental problems. These predictive tools can also be
used to illustrate the trade-offs associated with alternative
environmental and economic policies in the context of dynamic
stakeholder values. ReVA relies heavily on the use of geographic
information system technologies and quantitative integration and
assessment methods to develop useful measures of a suite of decision-
criteria for decision-makers at multiple scales. The SAB Panel held
several meetings to discuss and draft its advisory as announced in
Federal Register notices published on October 13, 2004 (69 FR 60864),
and March 24, 2005 (70 FR 15084). These notices can be found on the SAB
Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/reva_rev_panel.htm.
The SAB is now conducting a quality review of the Panel's draft
advisory report. The purpose of the QRC is to determine whether: (i)
The original charge questions to the SAB review panel have been
adequately addressed, (ii) the report is clear and logical, and (iii)
any conclusions drawn, or recommendations provided, are supported by
the body of information in the advisory report. The outcome of the QRC
review will be referred to the SAB for action during the Board's final
public review of the draft report.
Procedures for Providing Public Comment: The SAB Staff Office
accepts written public comments of any length, and will accommodate
oral public comments whenever possible. The SAB Staff Office expects
that public statements at the SAB Quality Review Committee review of
the Draft Advisory Report on EPA's Regional Vulnerability Assessment
(ReVA) Program will not repeat previously submitted oral or written
statements. Oral Comments: Requests to provide oral comments must be in
writing (e-mail or fax) and received by Mr. Miller no later than
September 1, 2005, to reserve time on the September 8, 2005, agenda.
For teleconferences, opportunities for oral comment will be limited to
no more than five minutes per speaker. Written Comments: Written
comments should be received in the SAB Staff Office by the date
specified above so that the comments may be made available to the
committee for their consideration. Comments should be supplied to the
DFO at the address/contact information above in the following formats:
one hard copy with original signature, and one electronic copy via e-
mail (acceptable file format: Adobe Acrobat, WordPerfect, Word, or Rich
Text files in IBM-PC/Windows 98/2000/XP format).
Meeting Accommodations: Individuals requiring special accommodation
to access these meetings, should contact the DFO at least five business
days prior to the meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
Dated: August 12, 2005.
Anthony Maciorowski,
Acting Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 05-16491 Filed 8-18-05; 8:45 am]
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