[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 3, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5589-5590]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-2250]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9109-1]
Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Public
Nominations of Experts To Conduct a Peer Review of EPA's Draft Document
``An Advisory Value for Conductivity Using Field Data: An Adaptation of
the U.S. EPA's Standard Methodology for Deriving Water Quality
Criteria''
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Request for additional public nominations.
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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is seeking
public nomination of experts to conduct a peer review of EPA's draft
document ``An Advisory Value for Conductivity using Field Data: An
Adaptation of the U.S. EPA's Standard Methodology for Deriving Water
Quality Criteria''
DATES: Nominations should be submitted by February 17, 2010 per the
instructions below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing
further information regarding this request for nominations may contact
Mr. Edward Hanlon, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB Staff Office,
by telephone/voice mail at (202) 343-9946; by fax at (202) 233-0643 or
via email at [email protected]. General information concerning the
EPA Science Advisory Board can be found at the EPA SAB Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/sab. Any inquiry regarding EPA's Office of Research
and Development (ORD) draft document entitled ``An Advisory Value for
Conductivity using Field Data: An Adaptation of the U.S. EPA's Standard
Methodology for Deriving Water Quality Criteria'' should be directed to
Dr. Michael Slimak, ORD's Associate Director of Ecology, National
Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), who may be contacted via
telephone at (703) 347-8524 or by e-mail at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: Recent published scientific information indicates that
discharges from mountaintop mining and valley-fill operations in
Southern Appalachia may be linked to degraded water quality and adverse
impacts on in-stream biota. Discharges from surface coal mining,
valley-fills and associated operations are regulated under the Clean
Water Act (CWA) and under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation
Act of 1977 (SMCRA). Under the CWA, discharges from mountaintop mining
[[Page 5590]]
and valley-fill operations require an NPDES permit that either meets
technology-based effluent limits or water quality-based limits that are
developed from ambient water quality criteria. Ambient Water Quality
Criteria are developed for specific pollutants, and their application
takes into account the conditions of a waterbody that are designed to
protect the designated uses of the waterbody.
EPA's ORD has developed a report that uses field data to derive an
aquatic life advisory value for conductivity (a measure of salinity)
that may be applied to waters in the Appalachian Region that are
dominated by salts of SO42- and HCO3-.
This advisory value is intended to protect the biological integrity of
waters in the region. It is derived by a method modeled on EPA's
standard methodology for deriving water quality criteria. In
particular, the methodology was adapted for use of field data.
ORD is requesting the SAB to peer review this draft conductivity
document. In a Federal Register Notice (Volume 74, Number 185, Pages
48952--48953) published on September 25, 2009, the SAB Staff Office
solicited public nominations for a proposed SAB expert Panel to provide
advice on ORD's draft assessment of ecological impacts related to
mountaintop mining and valley-fill operations. Since the mountaintop
mining assessment report and the conductivity advisory document are
related, the SAB Staff Office is forming one expert panel under the
auspices of the SAB to cover the necessary expertise for the review of
both reports.
Request for Nominations: In addition to the expertise previously
sought in the above noted Federal Register Notice, the SAB Staff office
is seeking public nominations of experts with nationally recognized
expertise, knowledge, and experience in statistics with emphasis in
management of empirical data sets associated with aquatic ecology or
water quality criteria.
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 this expert ad hoc
Panel. 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 instructions can be accessed through
the ``Nomination of Experts'' 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 vita; 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 Mr. Edward Hanlon, DFO, as indicated above in this notice.
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than
February 17, 2010.
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 to the September 25,
2009 Federal Register Notice (Volume 74, Number 185, Pages 48952--
48953), and additional experts identified by the SAB Staff, will be
posted in an Updated List of Candidates on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on this Updated List of Candidates
will be accepted for 21 calendar 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 subcommittee or 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
establishing this expert ad hoc Panel to provide advice on the
ecological impacts related to mountaintop mining and valley-fill
operations and on deriving an aquatic life ambient water quality
advisory value for conductivity using field data, the SAB Staff Office
will consider public comments on the List 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 lack of
impartiality; and (e) skills working in committees, subcommittees and
advisory panels; and, for the Panel as a whole, (f) diversity of
scientific expertise and viewpoints. 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 SAB Staff Office's evaluation of an absence of financial
conflicts of interest will include a review of 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 http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/epaform3110-48.pdf.
The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects
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 http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf.
Dated: January 27, 2010.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-2250 Filed 2-2-10; 8:45 am]
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