[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 208 (Friday, October 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54243-54244]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-27009]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7090-8]


EPA Science Advisory Board; Notification of Public Advisory 
Committee Meeting

    Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, 
notice is hereby given that the Environmental Economics Advisory 
Committee (EEAC) of the US EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB), will meet 
on Friday, November 30, 2001 in the Rachel Carson Great Hall of the EPA 
Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20005. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. and adjourn no later than 
3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The meeting is open to the public, however, 
seating is limited and available on a first come basis.
    Purpose of the Meeting--The purpose of the meeting will be to: (a) 
Receive a status briefing on EPA's continuing efforts to enhance its 
practices for estimating the benefits of environmental actions that 
reduce mortality risks; (b) to engage in a Consultation with EPA 
representatives on possible opportunities for using incentives in the 
area of water and other areas of environmental pollution control; and 
(c) to engage in a Consultation with EPA representatives on the 
approach they wish to implement to develop their economic research 
strategy.
    Background--(a) Value of Statistical Life (VSL) as a Measure of 
Benefits From Environmental Actions--The EEAC, and other Science 
Advisory Board Committees, have held a series of interactions with EPA 
representatives over the past few years on ways to estimate the 
benefits that are predicted to come from environmental actions. 
Examples of such interactions include: (a) The review of EPA's 
guidelines for economic analysis (see 63 FR 150:41820; 64 FR 56:14232; 
64 FR 205:57452); (b) the review of EPA's white paper on Valuing Fatal 
Cancer Risk Reductions (see 65 FR 24:5637); (c) the SAB review of the 
benefits and costs of arsenic control in drinking water (see 66 FR 
74:19770; 66 FR 127:34924) and (d) the SAB reviews of the benefits and 
costs of the Clean Air Act (e.g., see SAB reports EPA-SAB-COUNCIL-LTR-
97-001, EPA-SAB-COUNCIL-ADV-00-001, EPA-SAB-COUNCIL-ADV-01-004--please 
see the SAB website www.epa.gov/sab for copies of these reports). The 
EPA National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE) and other EPA 
offices now intend to present a draft plan to the EEAC that outlines 
EPA's efforts that will help EPA reach a resolution on best practices 
for a more complete and reliable accounting of the benefits of 
mortality risk reductions.
    The Agency now uses a central estimate for valuation of reduced 
mortality risks, and makes adjustments to reflect the impact of factors 
such as identifiable latency periods and income growth over time. There 
are recognized limitations to these estimates, and these limitations 
provide the focus for an active research agenda for economists at EPA 
and outside the Agency. NCEE and other EPA offices conduct a variety of 
activities related to valuation of reduced mortality risks. These 
activities include: (a) The development of a review and assessment of 
the empirical literature that serves as a basis for EPA's value of 
statistical life (VSL) estimates, (b) development of more complete and 
reliable benefit transfer values for an environmental context, and (c) 
identification of directions for policy-relevant research.
    EPA will outline its activities for collecting and disseminating 
new information as well as conducting and funding additional research 
designed to fill research needs. The Committee will consider how it 
might continue to interact with EPA as the Agency moves forward with 
this effort.
    (b) Economic Incentives Consultation--The Committee will engage in 
a Consultation with EPA representatives on the Agency's consideration 
of opportunities for application of innovative and incentives-based 
approaches for environmental and health protection. EPA desires 
feedback from individual members of the Committee on criteria that 
might be used to select candidate areas for considering the 
applicability of such methods and for feedback on what topical areas 
might be considered as part of the agency's agenda for further 
development.
    Over the last 20 years, and particularly during the past decade, 
economic incentives have been increasingly used to control pollution 
and improve environmental and health protection at the federal, state 
and local levels. Economic incentives are instruments that use 
financial means to motivate polluters to reduce the health and 
environmental risks posed by their facilities, processes, or products. 
Examples include pollution charges, fees, and taxes; deposit-refund 
systems; and trading programs. Economic incentives offer several 
advantages that make them attractive environmental management tools. In 
many cases incentives generate benefits beyond what is possible with 
traditional regulations; sometimes they are applied where traditional 
regulations might not be possible. They are particularly useful for 
small and geographically dispersed sources. They can also provide 
impetus for technological change.
    EPA plans to continue to explore opportunities to use, 
significantly expand, or usefully support State or local governments in 
the use of innovative approaches, particularly market-based economic 
incentives. EPA will discuss possible opportunities for using 
incentives in the area of water pollution as well as other areas, and 
hope to share some recent examples of experiences where incentives have 
been used successfully for environmental pollution control.
    (c) Research Strategy Development--The Committee will engage in a 
Consultation with EPA representatives on the approach they are 
considering for development of an environmental economics research 
strategy. EPA desires feedback from individual members of the Committee 
on whether this is an appropriate approach, given the goals of the 
strategy, for its development. Further, they would like to learn of 
additional techniques or considerations that might improve the proposed 
developmental approach. The Agency intends to return to the SAB for a 
formal peer review of their completed research strategy in late FY 
2002.

[[Page 54244]]

    EPA has discussed the need to develop an environmental economic 
research strategy with the EEAC on a number of occasions (see 63 FR 
56:14112; 63 FR 150:41826; 64 FR 205:57452). Now, EPA's National Center 
for Environmental Research (NCER) and the National Center for 
Environmental Economics (NCEE) are initiating the development of an 
EPA-wide ``Economic Research Strategy'' with widespread program input 
and external consultation and peer review. The Economic Research 
Strategy will provide a blueprint for economic research priorities for 
EPA and will help coordinate dispersed but related economic research 
efforts throughout the Agency.
    An initial effort to identify economic research strategies was 
undertaken by the Office of Policy, now the Office of Policy, 
Economics, and Innovation's NCEE, in 1997. Evaluation of this effort 
pointed out some needed supplemental information, such as an assessment 
of current research, that should be included in a comprehensive 
economic research strategy. In response, NCEE and NCER have decided to 
develop a revised research strategy. This project will build on the 
accomplishments of the first effort, which have provided guidance for 
research for the past 3 years, but will augment them with new 
components, such as assessments of research in priority areas, and a 
reassessment of program and regional priorities for economic research.
    The research strategy will describe not only the priorities 
identified by program practitioners, but will evaluate the state of the 
science in the identified priority areas, so that research efforts can 
be focused where the incremental effort will have the greatest 
practical payoff. It will also provide differential foci on the short, 
medium and long run that will allow EPA to develop an implementation 
plan using its full suite of economic research tools and vehicles, such 
as in-house research, contracts, cooperative agreements or research 
grants, to meet the identified need with the most appropriate tool.
    For Further Information--Any member of the public wishing further 
information concerning this meeting should contact Mr. Thomas O. 
Miller, Designated Federal Officer, EPA Science Advisory Board, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (1400A), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20460, telephone (202) 564-4558; FAX (202) 501-0582; or 
via e-mail at [email protected]. For a copy of the draft meeting 
agenda, please contact Ms. Wanda Fields, Management Assistant at (202) 
564-4539, or by FAX at (202) 501-0582 or via e-mail at 
[email protected].
    Background Information--is available on the EPA from: (1) For 
topics ``a'' and ``b'' above, Ms. Jennifer Bowen, Research and Program 
Support Division, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. 
EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Mail Code 1809, Washington, DC 20460; 
Phone: (202) 260-4396; or E-Mail, [email protected]; (2) for topic 
``c'' above, Dr. Matthew Clark, Economics, Social and Behavioral 
Science Program; National Center for Environmental Research, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Mail Code 8722R, Washington, DC 20460; Phone: 
(202) 564-6842; or E-Mail: [email protected].
    Public Oral or Written Comments--Members of the public who wish to 
make a brief oral presentation (5 minutes or less) to the Committee 
must contact Mr. Miller in writing (by letter or by fax--see contact 
information above) no later than 12 noon Eastern Time, Wednesday, 
November 21, 2001 in order to be included on the Agenda. The request 
should identify the name of the individual who will make the 
presentation, the organization (if any) they will represent, any 
requirements for audio visual equipment (e.g., overhead projector, 35mm 
projector, chalkboard, etc), and at least 35 copies of an outline of 
the issues to be addressed or the presentation itself. Written comments 
will be accepted until close of business December 7, 2001. See below 
for more information on providing written or oral comments.

Providing Oral or Written Comments at SAB Meetings

    It is the policy of the Science Advisory Board to accept written 
public comments of any length, and to accommodate oral public comments 
whenever possible. The Science Advisory Board expects that public 
statements presented at its meetings will not be repetitive of 
previously submitted oral or written statements. Oral Comments: In 
general, each individual or group requesting an oral presentation at a 
face-to-face meeting will be limited to a total time of five minutes. 
For teleconference meetings, opportunities for oral comment will 
usually be limited to no more than three minutes per speaker. Deadlines 
for getting on the public speaker list for a meeting are given above. 
Speakers should bring at least 35 copies of their comments and 
presentation slides for distribution to the reviewers and public at the 
meeting. Written Comments: Although the SAB accepts written comments 
until the date of the meeting (unless otherwise stated), written 
comments should be received in the SAB Staff Office at least one week 
prior to the meeting date so that the comments may be made available to 
the committee for their consideration. Comments should be supplied to 
the appropriate DFO at the address/contact information noted above in 
the following formats: one hard copy with original signature, and one 
electronic copy via e-mail (acceptable file format: WordPerfect, Word, 
or Rich Text files (in IBM-PC/Windows 95/98 format). Those providing 
written comments and who attend the meeting are also asked to bring 35 
copies of their comments for public distribution.
    General Information--Additional information concerning the Science 
Advisory Board, its structure, function, and composition, may be found 
on the SAB Website (http://www.epa.gov/sab) and in The FY2000 Annual 
Report of the Staff Director which is available from the SAB 
Publications Staff at (202) 564-4533 or via fax at (202) 501-0256. 
Committee rosters, draft Agendas and meeting calendars are also located 
on our website.
    Meeting Access--Individuals requiring special accommodation at this 
meeting, including wheelchair access to the conference room, should 
contact Mr. Miller at least five business days prior to the meeting so 
that appropriate arrangements can be made.

    Dated: October 18, 2001.
Donald G. Barnes,
Staff Director, EPA Science Advisory Board.
[FR Doc. 01-27009 Filed 10-25-01; 8:45 am]
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