[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 45 (Thursday, March 8, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10527-10528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-4168]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8285-6]
EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office Request for
Nominations for Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC)
Particular Matter (PM Review Panel)
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) Staff Office is announcing the formation
of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) review panel for
Particulate Matter (PM). The SAB Staff Office is soliciting public
nominations for this Panel.
DATES: New nominations should be submitted by March 29, 2007.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact
Mr. Fred Butterfield, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science
Advisory Board (1400F), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; via telephone/voice
mail: (202) 343-9994; fax: (202) 233-0643; or e-mail at:
[email protected]. General information concerning the CASAC or
the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found on the EPA Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/sab.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) was
established under section 109(d)(2) of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act)
(42 U.S.C. 7409) as an independent scientific advisory committee. CASAC
provides advice, information and recommendations on the scientific and
technical aspects of air quality criteria and national ambient air
quality standards (NAAQS) under sections 108 and 109 of the Act. The
CASAC is a Federal advisory committee chartered under the Federal
Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C., App. Section
109(d)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires that EPA carry out a
periodic review and revision, as appropriate, of the air quality
criteria and the NAAQS for the six ``criteria'' air pollutants,
including PM. This Federal Register notice solicitation is seeking
nominations for additional, subject-matter experts to augment the
chartered CASAC. This CASAC Panel will review EPA's technical and
policy assessments that form the basis for updating the NAAQS for PM.
The CASAC PM Review Panel will comply with the provisions of FACA and
all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural policies.
Nominator's Assessment of Expertise. The SAB Staff Office requests
nominees for the CASAC PM Review Panel who are nationally-recognized
experts in one or more of the following disciplines:
(a) Atmospheric Science. Expertise in evaluating the physical/
chemical properties of particulate matter including transport of PM on
urban to global scales, transformation of primary particles in the
atmosphere to secondary particles, and movement of PM between media
through deposition and other such mechanisms. Expertise in evaluating
natural and anthropogenic sources and emissions of PM and resulting
ambient levels, pertinent monitoring or measurement methods for PM, and
spatial and temporal trends in PM atmospheric concentrations.
(b) Human Exposure and Risk Assessment/Modeling. Expertise in
measuring general population exposure to PM and/or in modeling exposure
to PM emitted from ambient and indoor sources. Expertise in human
health risk analysis modeling for PM related to respiratory,
cardiovascular, and other non-cancer health effects as well as cancer.
Expertise in characterizing uncertainty in exposure and risk analyses.
(c) Dosimetry. Expertise in evaluating the dosimetry of animal and
human subjects, including identifying factors associated with
differential patterns of inhalation and/or deposition/uptake in various
respiratory tract regions that may contribute to differential
susceptibility of sensitive subpopulations and animal-to-human
dosimetry extrapolations.
(d) Toxicology. Expertise in evaluating and interpreting
experimental laboratory animal studies, including animal models
simulating sensitive subpopulations (e.g., children, older adults,
individuals with preexisting respiratory or cardiac disease), and in
vitro studies of the effects of PM on pulmonary and extrapulmonary
(e.g., cardiovascular, immunological) endpoints and cancer.
(e) Controlled Human Exposure. Expertise in evaluating and
interpreting controlled human exposure studies of the effects of PM on
the general population and sensitive subpopulations (e.g., children,
older adults, individuals with preexisting respiratory or cardiac
disease). Experts would include physicians with experience in the
clinical treatment of cardiopulmonary diseases, including asthma,
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and diabetes.
(f) Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Expertise in evaluating
epidemiological evidence of the effects of exposures to ambient PM and
other major air pollutants (e.g., ozone, SO2,
NO2, carbon monoxide) on the general population and
sensitive subpopulations (e.g., children, older adults, individuals
with preexisting respiratory or cardiac disease). Expertise in
evaluating a broad range of health endpoints, including mortality and
morbidity effects (e.g., respiratory symptoms, lung function
decrements, asthma medication use, physiological changes or biomarkers
for cardiac changes, cardiopulmonary-related emergency department
visits, cardiopulmonary-related hospital admissions, cancer). Expertise
in using biostatistical models to interpret epidemiological evidence.
(g) Effects on Visibility Impairment. Expertise in evaluating and
interpreting studies of the effects of PM on local visibility
impairment as well as regional haze. Expertise would include evaluating
visibility trends and conditions in Class I, urban, and non-urban
areas, studies of economic value of improving visual air quality, and
approaches to assessing public perceptions of visibility impairment and
judgments about the acceptability of varying degrees of visibility
impairment.
(h) Ecological Effects. Expertise in evaluating the effects of
exposure to PM on agricultural crops and natural ecosystems and their
components, both flora and fauna, ranging from biochemical/sub-cellular
effects on organisms to increasingly more complex levels of ecosystem
organization. Appropriate expertise disciplines include: Aquatic
chemistry; aquatic ecology/biology; limnology; terrestrial ecology;
forest ecology; grassland ecology; rangeland ecology; terrestrial/
aquatic biogeochemistry; terrestrial/aquatic nutrient cycling; and
terrestrial/aquatic wildlife biology and soil chemistry.
(i) Other Welfare Effects. Expertise in evaluating the effects of
PM on other public welfare effects, including damage to materials, and
also the atmospheric interactions of PM as related to global climate
conditions.
(j) Ecosystem Exposure and Risk Assessment/Modeling. Expertise in
deposition modeling across a range of
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scales from local watershed to landscape to continental; static and
dynamic ecosystem response models; integrated assessment models;
identification of bioindicators useful for tracking ecosystem change;
and methods and approaches for estimating damage to ecosystems.
(k) Resource Valuation. Expertise in ecological resource and other
welfare effects valuation and/or economic benefits assessment
approaches and models.
Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals to add
expertise to the CASAC PM Review Panel in the areas of expertise
described above. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format
through the SAB Web site at the following URL: http://www.epa.gov/sab;
or directly via the Form for Nominating Individuals to Panels of the
EPA Science Advisory Board link found at URL: http://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/paneltopics.html. Please follow the instructions for submitting
nominations carefully. To be considered, nominations should include all
of the information required on the associated forms. Anyone unable to
submit nominations using the electronic form and who has any questions
concerning the nomination process may contact Mr. Fred Butterfield,
DFO, as indicated above in this notice. Nominations should be submitted
in time to arrive no later than March 29, 2007.
For nominees to be considered, please include: Contact information;
a curriculum vitae; a biosketch of no more than two paragraphs
(containing information on the nominee's current position, educational
background, areas of expertise and research activities, service on
other advisory committees and professional societies; the candidate's
special expertise related to the panel being formed; and sources of
recent grant and/or contract support).
The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of nominations.
The names and biosketchs of qualified nominees identified by
respondents to the Federal Register notice and additional experts
identified by the SAB Staff will be posted on the SAB Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on this ``Short 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 the final CASAC PM Review Panel, the SAB Staff Office will
consider public comments on the ``Short List'' of candidates,
information provided by the candidates themselves, and background
information independently gathered by the SAB Staff Office. Specific
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, and
balance among, scientific expertise, viewpoints, etc.
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: March 2, 2007.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. E7-4168 Filed 3-7-07; 8:45 am]
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