[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 142 (Wednesday, July 23, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42801-42802]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-16832]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8696-5]
EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations
of Experts for a Science Advisory Board Committee To Provide Advice on
Future Development of EPA's Report on the Environment
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 or the Board) Staff Office is soliciting
nominations of nationally recognized scientists for consideration of
membership on an SAB committee to provide advice on future development
of EPA's Report on the Environment (ROE).
DATES: Nominations should be submitted by August 13, 2008 per the
instructions below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information regarding this Request
for Nominations please contact Dr. Thomas Armitage, Designated Federal
Officer (DFO), EPA Science Advisory Board (1400F), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460,
or via telephone/voice mail (202) 343-9995; fax (202) 233-0643; or e-
mail at [email protected]. General information concerning the EPA
SAB can be found on the 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, consultation, 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. C) and related
regulations. Generally, SAB meetings are announced in the Federal
Register, conducted in public view, and provide opportunities for
public input during deliberations. Additional information about the SAB
and its committees can be obtained on the SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab.
EPA recently published its 2008 Report on the Environment
(hereinafter referred to as ROE 2008). This report is available on the
EPA Office of Research and Development Web site at: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=190806. In the ROE 2008,
EPA presents environmental and human health indicator information to
represent the status of and trends in the condition of the nation's
environment. The ROE will be used by EPA to: (1) Inform strategic
planning, priority setting, and decision making across the Agency, and
(2) provide information to enable the public to assess whether EPA is
succeeding in its overall mission to protect human health and the
environment. Individual chapters in the ROE 2008 provide information on
the condition of air, water, and land environments. The air chapter
focuses outdoor and indoor air quality and greenhouse gases. The water
chapter addresses the condition of surface waters, watersheds, ground
water, wetlands, coastal waters, drinking water, recreational waters,
and consumable fish and shellfish. The land chapter contains indicator
information on land cover, land use, wastes on land, chemicals used on
land, and contaminated land. Two other chapters in the ROE 2008 focus
on human health and ecological condition. The human health chapter
provides indicator information on human disease and disease conditions
and environmental exposure to pollutants. The ecological condition
chapter provides indicator information on the extent and distribution
of ecological systems, diversity and biological balance of ecological
systems, ecological processes, critical physical and chemical
attributes, and exposure to pollutants. The environmental indicators in
the ROE 2008 were selected to answer broad questions deemed to be of
critical importance to EPA's mission. The ROE 2008 incorporates SAB
comments on earlier drafts of the ROE dated 2003 and 2007. The findings
and recommendations of these previous SAB reviews are available on the
SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab (see reports EPA-SAB-05-004 and
EPA-SAB-08-007). EPA expects to modify future editions of the ROE based
on long-term recommendations in the SAB review of the draft 2007 ROE.
This notice specifically requests nominations for candidates to serve
on a new SAB committee that will provide advice to EPA over the next
few years on how to: (1) Address previous SAB recommendations to
improve future versions of the ROE, and (2) make the ROE more useful to
EPA in informing planning and decision making and providing information
to the public. The Committee will ultimately review the
[[Page 42802]]
next version of the ROE expected to be published in 2012.
Expertise Sought: The SAB Staff Office requests nominations of
recognized experts from a wide range of scientific and engineering
disciplines with experience and expertise in: designing, implementing,
applying and/or communicating indicator information and data at
regional and national scales to evaluate the condition of air, water,
and/or land environments, human health, and/or ecological condition to
inform planning, policy, and decision making. Nominations of experts in
various disciplines are requested including: (a) Environmental
scientists and engineers with knowledge of the sources, fate, and
transport of air pollutants and outdoor and indoor air quality
indicators; (b) aquatic biologists, ecologists, hydrologists, chemists,
oceanographers and microbiologists with expertise in assessing the
condition of surface water, ground water, drinking water, wetlands,
coastal waters, and/or recreational waters; (c) environmental
scientists, ecologists, soil scientists, and environmental engineers
with expertise in the use of indicators (e.g., land cover, land use,
wastes on land, chemicals used on land, and contaminated land) to
assess the condition of land; (d) health scientists (e.g., in the
fields of public health, epidemiology, medicine, and risk assessment)
with expertise in assessing human exposure to environmental pollutants,
health risks associated with environmental pollutants, and/or
indicators for assessing human health condition; e) ecologists with
expertise in the use of indicators to assess the ecological effects of
exposure to pollutants and the condition of whole ecosystems; (f)
statisticians with expertise in analysis of environmental information
to determine the status of and trends in environmental condition; and
(g) decision scientists, social scientists, communication scientists,
and environmental economists with expertise in using and/or
communicating environmental indicator information and formulating
environmental policy.
How to Submit Nominations: Any interested person or organization
may nominate qualified individuals to be considered for appointment on
this SAB committee. Candidates may also nominate themselves.
Nominations should be submitted in electronic format (which is
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. The form can be accessed through the
``Public Involvement in Advisory Committee'' link on the blue
navigational bar on the SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab. To
receive full consideration, nominations should include all of the
information requested.
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 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. Thomas Armitage, DFO, at the contact information provided
above in this notice. Non-electronic submissions must follow the same
format and contain the same information as the electronic.
The SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of the nomination and
inform nominees of the committee for which they have been nominated.
From the nominees identified by respondents to this Federal Register
notice (termed the ``Widecast'') and other sources, the SAB Staff
Office will develop a smaller subset (known as the ``Short List'') for
more detailed consideration. The Short List will be posted on the SAB
Web site at: http://www.epa.govc/sab and will include, for each
candidate, the nominee's name and biosketch. Public comments on the
Short List will be accepted for 21 calendar days. During this comment
period, the public will be requested to provide information, analysis,
or other documentation on nominees that the SAB Staff Office should
consider in evaluating candidates for the Committee.
For the SAB, a balanced committee is characterized by inclusion of
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. Public responses to the
Short List candidates will be considered in the selection of the
Committee, along with information provided by candidates and
information gathered by SAB Staff independently concerning the
background of each candidate (e.g., financial disclosure information
and computer searches to evaluate a nominee's prior involvement with
the topic under review). Specific criteria to be used in evaluation of
an individual Committee member include: (a) Scientific and/or technical
expertise, knowledge, and experience (primary factors); (b) absence of
financial conflicts of interest; (c) scientific credibility and
impartiality; (d) availability and willingness to serve; and (e)
ability to work constructively and effectively in committees.
Short List candidates will be required to fill-out 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 that person's public responsibilities (which
includes membership on an EPA Federal advisory committee) and private
interests and activities, or the appearance of a lack of impartiality,
as defined by Federal regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded
from the following URL address at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/epaform3110-48.pdf.
Dated: July 17, 2008.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. E8-16832 Filed 7-22-08; 8:45 am]
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