[Federal Register: April 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 66)]
[Notices]
[Page 17688-17689]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07ap05-56]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL -7896-1]
Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of an Upcoming
Science Advisory Board Meeting
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a
public teleconference meeting of an SAB Quality Review Committee (QRC)
to discuss and to review a draft SAB report, Identifying and
Calculating Economic Benefit that Goes Beyond Avoided and/or Delayed
Costs: An SAB Draft Advisory.
DATES: April 29, 2005. A public telephone conference meeting of the SAB
Quality Review Committee (QRC)
[[Page 17689]]
will be held on April 29, 2005, from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. (eastern time)
to discuss the draft SAB report, Identifying and Calculating Economic
Benefit that Goes Beyond Avoided and/or Delayed Costs: An SAB Draft
Advisory.
ADDRESSES: The meeting for this review will be held by telephone only.
Members of the public who wish to obtain the call-in number for this
meeting should contact the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) for this
meeting. The SAB mailing address is: U.S. EPA, Science Advisory Board
(1400F), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. General
information about the SAB, as well as any updates concerning the
meeting announced in this notice, may be found on the SAB Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/sab.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to
obtain information regarding this teleconference meeting may contact
Mr. Thomas O. Miller, DFO, at (202) 343-9982 or e-mail at
miller.tom@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance (OECA) requested that the EPA Science Advisory Board review
the OECA White Paper entitled Identifying and Calculating Economic
Benefit that Goes Beyond Avoided and/or Delayed Costs, dated May 25,
2003. Accordingly, the SAB Staff Office formed an Ad Hoc Panel to
review the EPA White Paper. This was announced in a notice in the
Federal Register of August 6, 2003 (68 FR 46604) in which the SAB Staff
Office solicited nominations for Panel membership. The Panel held
several meetings to discuss and draft its advisory as announced in
Federal Register notices published on June 25, 2004 (69 FR 35599) and
January 6, 2005 (70 FR 1244). These notices can be found on the SAB Web
site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/icaebapanel.html.
The White Paper addressing ``illegal competitive advantage'' (ICA)
issues is related to EPA's policy of recapturing violators' economic
benefit from environmental noncompliance. Most of the Agency's cases
involving this type of economic benefit focus on the financial gain
that arises from delayed and/or avoided pollution control costs. In
these situations, the Agency calculates the economic benefit using the
``BEN'' (Benefits) computer model. EPA's White Paper provides an
approach to capture economic benefits from situations that are not
covered by the BEN model's focus on avoided and/or delayed
expenditures.
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 one, or a combination of one or more, of the following:
(i) Recommend SAB approval of the report without substantive change,
(ii) return the report to the review panel for further work, or (iii)
reject the work of the review panel and request a reconsideration and a
revised report in the future.
Availability of Review Material for the Board Meeting: Documents
that are the subject of this meeting are available on the SAB Web site
at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/icaebapanel.html.
Procedures for Providing Public Comment: The SAB Staff Office
accepts written public comments of any length, and accommodates oral
public comments whenever possible. The SAB Staff Office expects that
public statements presented at SAB meetings will not be repetitive of
previously submitted oral or written statements. Oral Comments: In
general, each individual or group requesting an oral presentation at a
teleconference meeting will usually be limited to no more than three
minutes per speaker and no more than fifteen minutes total. Interested
parties should contact the DFO noted above in writing via e-mail at
least one week prior to the meeting in order to be placed on the public
speaker list for the meeting. Speakers should provide an electronic
copy of their comments for distribution to interested parties and
participants in the meeting. Written Comments: Although written
comments are accepted until the date of the meeting (unless otherwise
stated), written comments should be received in the SAB Staff Office at
least one week prior to the meeting date 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: March 31, 2005.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 05-6945 Filed 4-6-05; 8:45 am]
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