[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 61 (Wednesday, March 30, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17649-17650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-7460]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9288-2]
Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations; SAB
Mercury Review Panel
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office provides
notice that the SAB will form a panel to conduct an independent review
of EPA's Mercury Technical Support Document and is requesting
additional public nominations of experts.
DATES: Nominations should be submitted by April 6, 2011 per
instructions below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing
further information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations
may contact Dr. Angela Nugent, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB
Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-2188; by fax at
(202) 565-2098 or via e-mail 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.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The SAB was established pursuant to the Environmental
Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act (ERDAA),
codified at 42 U.S.C. 4365, to provide independent scientific and
technical advice to the Administrator on the technical basis for Agency
positions and regulations. The SAB is a Federal Advisory Committee
chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C.,
App. 2.
On February 28, 2011 (76 FR 10896-10897) the EPA SAB Staff Office
published a request for public nominations of experts to serve on a
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) panel to conduct
[[Page 17650]]
an independent review of EPA's Mercury Technical Support Document. As
described in that notice, the SAB Staff Office was responding to an EPA
request for peer review of a March 2011 draft risk assessment for
mercury, entitled Technical Support Document: National-Scale Mercury
Risk Assessment Supporting the Appropriate and Necessary Finding for
Coal and Oil-Fired Electric Generating Unit. This technical document
was developed to support a proposed rule concerning regulation of
hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) released from coal-burning electric
generating units in the United States (U.S. EGUs) under Section
112(n)(1)(A) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This regulation may
potentially use a Maximally Achievable Control Device (MACT) approach
to set a technology-based standard for reducing HAP emissions.
The SAB Staff Office has determined that the SAB, rather than
CASAC, will conduct the review. Therefore, the new panel will be formed
under the authority of the SAB. Nominations of experts in response to
the February 28, 2011 Federal Register Notice will be considered for
the new SAB panel and the period for nominations will be extended.
Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is seeking
nominations of nationally and internationally recognized experts with
research experience and expertise in the following disciplines,
particularly related to mercury: atmospheric fate, transport and
modeling; aquatic fate, transport and modeling; bioaccumulation; human
exposure; epidemiology; toxicology, including reproductive and
neurotoxicology, biostatistics, and risk assessment.
EPA contact for background information pertaining to this review:
For questions concerning the development of EPA's mercury assessment,
on the Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/utility/pro/hg_risk_tsd_3-17-11.pdf, please contact Dr. Zachary Pekar at (919) 541-3704 or
pekar.zachary @epa.gov.
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 Dr. Angela Nugent, DFO, as indicated above in this notice.
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than April
6, 2011. 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 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 additional experts
identified by the SAB Staff, will be posted in a List of Candidates on
the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on this
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
the SAB Mercury Technical Support Document Review Panel, 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
expertise and viewpoints.
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 at 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: March 24, 2011.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2011-7460 Filed 3-29-11; 8:45 am]
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