[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 3, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15802-15804]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-8065]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL -7167-6]


EPA Science Advisory Board Metals Assessment Panel; Request for 
Nominations; EPA Science Advisory Board MARLAP Review Panel; Correction 
to Meeting Location; EPA Science Advisory Board Clean Air Scientific 
Advisory Committee; Advance Meeting Notification

1. Metals Assessment Panel; Request for Nominations

ACTION: Notice; request for nominations to serve on the Metals 
Assessment Panel of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science 
Advisory Board.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (Agency, EPA) 
Science Advisory Board (SAB) is announcing the formation of a Metals 
Assessment Panel and is soliciting nominations of qualified individuals 
to serve on this Panel. The SAB was established to provide independent 
scientific and technical advice to the EPA Administrator on Agency 
positions; in this case advice on development of cross-Agency guidance 
for assessing certain hazards and risks for metals and metal compounds.
    Any interested person or organization may nominate qualified 
individuals for membership on the Panel. Nominations (preferably in 
electronic format) should include the individual's name, occupation, 
position, qualifications to address the issue, and contact information 
(i.e., telephone number, fax number, mailing address, email, and/or 
Website). To be considered, all nominations must include a current 
resume (preferably electronic) providing information on the nominee's 
background, experience, and qualifications for this Panel.

Background

    There has been considerable interest in the scientific assessments 
that the Agency conducts on metals and metal compounds. Discussions 
between the Agency and external stakeholders, as well as concerns 
expressed formally as part of the recent Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) 
lead rulemaking, have demonstrated the need for a more comprehensive, 
cross-Agency approach to metals assessments that can be applied to 
human health and ecological assessments. Therefore, the Agency is 
developing a Framework that will offer guidance for EPA programs to use 
when considering the various environmental properties of metals, such 
as

[[Page 15803]]

persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity, in assessing the hazards and 
risks of metals and metal compounds. As a first step in accomplishing 
this goal, the Agency is developing an Action Plan that
    (a) Identifies the primary elements to be addressed in the 
assessment Framework,
    (b) Proposes a structure for the Framework, and
    (c) Sets out a process that will culminate in the production of the 
Framework, per se.
    The Agency has asked the SAB to form a Panel to provide advice 
(i.e., generate an SAB Advisory) on the Action Plan and subsequently to 
review (i.e., generate an SAB Review) the Framework that will be 
developed over the coming year.
    The SAB is negotiating a specific Charge to guide the Metals 
Assessment Panel consideration of the Action Plan. The specific 
questions that constitute the Charge provide general guidance to the 
nominators about the technical qualifications of individuals who are 
being sought to carry out the work of the Panel. It is anticipated that 
the Panel will contain experts who have proven knowledge of the 
toxicology of metals in humans and the environment, the transport and 
fate of metals in the environment, computer modeling of the behavior of 
metals in the environment, risk assessment of metals, and the technical 
issues that arise in applying these principles in a decision-making 
context.
    The current version of the Charge follows, although details of the 
Charge may change as a result of ongoing discussions between the Agency 
and the Panel. Updates will be posted on the SAB Website: www.epa.gov/sab.

Tentative Charge to the Metals Assessment Panel of the SAB

    Please comment on the soundness of the Action Plan, specifically 
focus on the following:
    1. Please comment on the soundness of the proposed organizing 
principles for the Framework.
    2. EPA has attempted to capture the major, cross-cutting scientific 
issues that are specific to assessing the hazard and risk of metals and 
metal compounds. Please comment on the scientific issues presented in 
the Action Plan. In particular, does the SAB concur that these are the 
major, cross-cutting issues of concern with respect to assessing hazard 
and risks of metals and metal compounds? If not, which issues would you 
add or delete from this list and why?
    3. Has EPA adequately characterized the issues and does the SAB 
concur with the steps proposed for addressing these issues? Why or why 
not?
    4. Can the SAB suggest priorities within the list of issues based 
on the state-of-the-science and the feasibility of developing guidance 
in the near term. Which issues should be the focus of longer-term 
research efforts?
    5. Are there specific recommendations (including methods and 
models) for addressing these issues that are not captured by EPA's 
Action Plan?
    6. Please comment on the feasibility of the proposed process for 
drafting the Framework. Do you consider the time line to be realistic? 
Are the measures being taken to involve the public adequate?
    7. Please comment on the structure for the Framework. Is it clear 
and all inclusive?
    Any interested person or organization may nominate qualified 
individuals for membership on the Panel. Nominations should include the 
individual's name, occupation, position, qualifications to address the 
issue, and contact information (i.e., telephone number, fax number, 
mailing address, email address, and/or Website). To be considered, all 
nominations must include a current resume (preferably electronic), 
providing the nominee's background, experience, and qualifications.
    Nominations should be submitted (preferably in electronic format) 
to Ms. Stephanie Sanzone, Designated Federal Officer, EPA Science 
Advisory Board, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1400A), 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460, telephone (202) 564-
4561; FAX (202) 501-0323; e-mail at [email protected] no later 
than April 13, 2002. The Agency will not necessarily formally 
acknowledge or respond to nominations.
    The nominations received through this solicitation will be combined 
with nominations obtained through other sources; e.g., the Agency, SAB 
members, and particular organizations. From this larger group of 
nominees (termed the ``WIDECAST''), a smaller subset of candidates (the 
``Short List'') will be identified for more detailed consideration. The 
names of the Short List individuals, along with a short biosketch of 
each, will be posted on the SAB Website (www.epa.gov/sab). The public 
will have the opportunity to provide any information, analysis, and 
documentation--related to expertise, knowledge, scientific credibility, 
conflict-of-interest, possible lack of impartiality, experience, and 
skills working in committees and advisory panels--that they feel should 
be considered in the final Panel selection process. The public will 
also be asked to provide information, analysis, and documentation on 
their views of the Short List as it relates to questions of whether all 
necessary domains of knowledge are represented to conduct the review, 
whether all relevant scientific perspectives are included, and whether 
there is a sufficient range of experience to conduct a fully informed, 
credible technical review. Such data provided by the public will be 
considered, along with information collected by the SAB Staff (e.g., 
review of the candidates' resumes and confidential conflict of interest 
statements (OGE form 450) and conversation with the candidates), when 
the SAB Staff Director makes the final decisions on Panel membership 
from the Short List, in consultation with SAB leadership, as needed.
    Panel members will be asked to attend at least one public meeting, 
possibly followed by a public teleconference meeting over the 
anticipated 3-month course of the activity. The Executive Committee 
(EC) of the SAB will critically review the Panel's report and reach a 
judgment about its transmittal to the Administrator.

2. MARLAP Review Panel; Correction to Meeting Location

    The Multi-Agency Radiological Laboratory Analytical Protocols 
(MARLAP) Review Panel of the Radiation Advisory Committee (RAC) of the 
US EPA Science Advisory Board announced a meeting for April 23-25, 2002 
(see 67 FR 11328-11330, March 13, 2002). The meeting location was given 
as EPA Hearing Room 1153 in the EPA East Headquarters Building, 1201 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. The street address 
should read 1201 Constitution Avenue, NW, not 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
NW. The other information given in the previous FR is correct.

3. Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee; Advance Notification of 
Meetings

    The Particulate Matter Review Panel of the Clean Air Scientific 
Advisory Committee (CASAC) will hold two meetings to review Agency 
draft documents concerned with the Particulate Matter National Ambient 
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The first meeting will be held on July 
18-19, 2002 to review the draft Particulate Matter Criteria Document. 
The second meeting will be held on September 18-19, 2002 to review the 
Particulate Matter

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Staff Paper. Both meetings will be held in Research Triangle Park, NC. 
Details about these meetings will appear in a FR Notice approximately 
one month prior to each meeting. Availability of review documents will 
be posted separately in the FR approximately two months prior to each 
meeting. These FR Notices will contain contact information and 
information concerning how to provide comments to either EPA or to 
CASAC. For further information concerning these two planned meetings, 
please contact Mr. Robert Flaak, CASAC Designated Federal Officer at 
(202) 564-4546, [email protected] or at US EPA Science Advisory 
Board, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1400A), 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460.

General Information

    Additional information concerning the EPA Science Advisory Board, 
its structure, function, and composition, may be found on the SAB 
Website (http://www.epa.gov/sab) and in the Science Advisory Board 
FY2000 Annual Staff Report which is available from the SAB Publications 
Staff at (202) 564-4533 or via fax at (202) 501-0256.

    Dated: March 26, 2002.
Donald G. Barnes,
Staff Director, Science Advisory Board.
[FR Doc. 02-8065 Filed 4-2-02; 8:45 am]
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