[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4070-4071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-1465]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9106-7]
Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of a Public
Meeting of the Air Quality Modeling Subcommittee Advisory Council on
Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a
public meeting of the Air Quality Modeling Subcommittee (AQMS) of the
Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council). The AQMS,
supplemented with additional members from the Council, will review air
quality modeling results for scenarios with and without EPA's
regulatory programs implemented under the Clean Air Act Amendments of
1990. The air quality modeling work has been developed in support of
the Office of Air and Radiation's Second Section 812 Prospective
Analysis of the benefits and costs of the Clean Air Act.
DATES: The meeting date is Friday, February 19, 2010, beginning at 8:30
a.m. and ending no later than 5 p.m. (Eastern Time).
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Science Advisory
Board Conference Center, 1025 F Street, NW., Suite 3705, Washington, DC
20004.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to
obtain further information about this meeting may contact Ms. Stephanie
Sanzone, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science Advisory Board
Staff Office (1400F), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; by telephone/voice
mail: (202) 343-9697 or at [email protected]. General
information about the Council may be found on the Council Web site at
http://www.epa.gov/advisorycouncilcaa.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5
U.S.C., App. 2 (FACA), notice is hereby given that the Air Quality
Modeling Subcommittee (AQMS) of the Advisory Council on Clean Air
Compliance Analysis (Council) will hold a public meeting to evaluate
draft documents regarding air quality modeling and evaluation of
modeling performance analyses to support the Second Prospective Section
812 Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Clean Air Act. The Council was
established in 1991 pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of
1990 (see 42 U.S.C. 7612) to provide advice, information and
recommendations on technical and economic aspects of analyses and
reports EPA prepares on the impacts of the CAA on the public health,
economy, and environment of the United States. The Council is a Federal
Advisory Committee chartered under FACA. The AQMS will provide advice
through the Council and will comply with the provisions of FACA and all
appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural policies.
Pursuant to Section 812 of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments
(CAAA), EPA conducts periodic studies to assess benefits and costs of
the EPA's regulatory actions under the Clean Air Act. The Council has
provided advice on an EPA retrospective study
[[Page 4071]]
published in 1997 and an EPA prospective study completed in 1999. EPA
initiated a second prospective study to evaluate the benefits and costs
of EPA Clean Air programs for years 1990--2020. The Council has
previously provided advice on the analytical blueprint for this study.
EPA's Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) is now nearing completion of
the analytical work for the second prospective study. At the February
19, 2010 meeting, the AQMS will review technical documents pertaining
to modeling of air quality for seven emissions scenarios: a 1990
baseline simulation; and simulations for 2000, 2010 and 2020 with and
without the CAAA. The analyses use the Community Multiscale Air Quality
(CMAQ) model to simulate national and regional-scale (Western U.S. and
Eastern U.S.) concentrations of ozone and fine particulates
(PM2.5).
OAR is requesting that the AQMS review the data choices,
methodological choices for analyzing the data, and the overall validity
and utility of the estimated changes in air quality conditions between
the with-CAAA90 and without-CAAA90 scenarios. The following documents
are provided to the AQMS: (1) Second Prospective Analysis of Air
Quality in the U.S. Air Quality Modeling. Draft Report, September 30,
2008. Prepared by ICF International for James B. DeMocker, EPA Office
of Policy Analysis and Review, and (2) Evaluation of CMAQ Model
Performance for the 812 Prospective II Study, Memorandum from Sharon
Douglas and Tom Myers, ICF International to Jim DeMocker, EPA Office of
Policy Analysis and Review, November 24, 2009.
Technical Contacts: The Office of Air and Radiation technical
contact for the Second Section 812 Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Clean
Air Act is Mr. Jim DeMocker at (202) 564-1673 or [email protected].
Availability of Meeting Materials: EPA draft documents provided to
the AQMS are available at http://www.epa.gov/oar/sect812/prospective2.html.
The meeting agenda for February 19, 2010 and any background
materials will be posted on the SAB Web site (http://www.epa.gov/advisorycouncilcaa) prior to the meeting.
Procedures for Providing Public Input: Interested members of the
public may submit relevant written or oral information for the AQMS to
consider on the topics of this advisory activity and/or the group
conducting the activity. Oral Statements: In general, individuals or
groups requesting an oral presentation at a public meeting will be
limited to five minutes per speaker, with no more than one hour for all
speakers. Interested parties should contact Ms. Sanzone at the contact
information provided above by February 10, 2010, to be placed on the
public speaker list for the February 19, 2010 meeting. Written
Statements: Written statements should be received in the SAB Staff
Office by February 10, 2010, so that the information may be made
available to the AQMS for their consideration prior to the meeting.
Written statements should be supplied to Ms. Sanzone in the following
formats: One hard copy with original signature and one electronic copy
via e-mail (acceptable file format: Adobe Acrobat PDF, MS Word,
WordPerfect, MS PowerPoint, or Rich Text files). Submitters are asked
to provide electronic versions of each document submitted with and
without signatures, because the SAB Staff Office does not publish
documents with signatures on its Web sites.
Accessibility: For information on access or services for
individuals with disabilities, please contact Ms. Sanzone at (202) 343-
9697, or via e-mail at [email protected], preferably at least
ten (10) days prior to the meeting, to give EPA as much time as
possible to process your request.
Dated: January 19, 2010.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-1465 Filed 1-25-10; 8:45 am]
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