[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 81 (Monday, April 28, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22377-22379]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10399]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7488-9]


Science Advisory Board; Request for Comments on the Use of the 
Environmental Engineering Committee for a Consultation and Notification 
of Two Environmental Engineering Committee Meetings

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA, SAB is announcing that the Environmental Engineering 
Committee, a standing committee of the SAB, will provide a consultation 
on improving leach testing of waste at a conference call May 16 and a 
face-to-face meeting June 17-19, 2003. The Staff Office solicits 
comments from the public about the appropriateness of the use of the 
EEC for this consultation.

DATES: Comments on the use of the EEC for this consultation should be 
submitted no later than May 19, 2003. The conference call meeting will 
be held Friday May 16, 2003 from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The 
face-to-face meeting will be held June 17-18, 2003. The meeting will 
begin each day at 9 a.m., adjourn no later than 6 p.m. on Tuesday June 
17 and no later than 4 p.m. on Wednesday June 18.

ADDRESSES: Any member of the public wishing to provide comment on the 
proposed use of the EEC for this consultation should contact the 
individual named below. The roster for the EEC and biosketches for its 
members can be viewed on the SAB Web site http://www.epa.gov/sab/eecconsultationonleaching.html. Participation in the May 16, 2003 
conference call meeting will be by teleconference only. The June 17-18, 
2003 face-to-face meeting will be held in the metropolitan Washington 
DC area; the specific location will be announced in a subsequent 
Federal Register notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding the conference call, face-to-face 
meeting, or the use of the EEC for this consultation may contact Ms. 
Kathleen White, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), U.S. EPA Science 
Advisory Board (1400A), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 
20460-0001 (for overnight delivery, please specify room 6450 Z and use 
zip code 20004). Ms. White can also be reached by telephone/voice mail 
at (202) 564-4559, by fax at (202) 501-0582; or via e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Summary: The EPA SAB is announcing that the Environmental 
Engineering Committee, a standing committee of the SAB, will provide a 
consultation on improving leach testing of waste at a face-to-face 
meeting June 17-19, 2003. Planning for the face-to-face meeting will 
take place at a conference call meeting to be held May 16. The public 
is offered the opportunity to comment on the appropriateness of the use 
of the EEC for this consultation.
    Background--The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) 
defines hazardous wastes as solid wastes that may pose a substantial 
present or potential hazard to human health and the environment when 
improperly managed. When EPA promulgated characteristics that classify 
wastes as hazardous by virtue of their inherent properties (45 FR 
33084, May 19, 1980), it established two criteria for identifying 
hazardous waste characteristics: ``(1) The characteristic

[[Page 22378]]

should be capable of being defined in terms of physical, chemical or 
other properties which cause the waste to meet the statutory definition 
of hazardous waste and (2) the properties defining the characteristic 
must be measurably standardized and available testing protocols.'' 
Under this rule, the potential for certain wastes to leach significant 
concentrations of toxic substances is a defining characteristic. At 
present, EPA uses the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) 
as a regulatory screening test to identify wastes which exhibit such 
leaching behavior under plausible worst-case management conditions. 
TCLP is also used for determining whether required treatment of 
hazardous waste has been adequately done. TCLP therefore does not 
address all parameters and scenarios.
    EPA believes that TCLP remains an appropriate and valid test in its 
regulatory functions. The Agency also believes that leach testing more 
tailored to known disposal conditions can be the basis for better 
environmental decisionmaking, when regulatory programs allow such 
flexibility. EPA has initiated both internal and external research to 
begin work toward a more comprehensive assessment framework and set of 
testing protocols for evaluation of leaching potential of waste 
materials under relevant environmental conditions.
    In 1999, the Science Advisory Board provided the EPA with a 
commentary, Waste Leachability: The Need for Review of Current Agency 
Procedures. (This commentary is available at http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/eecm9902.pdf.) Since then there has been progress in both 
understanding leaching mechanisms and in test method development. EPA 
is now seeking input from the SAB on the direction of work performed to 
date and the Agency's consideration of recent and ongoing academic 
research. EPA's Office of Solid Waste is preparing a short background 
document in support of the consultation which will be posted on the 
SAB's Web site (http://www.epa.gov/sab/eecconsultationonleaching.html) 
no later than June 3, 2003 along with an updated charge for the 
consultation.
    Charge: While many questions and much research remain, EPA seeks an 
opportunity for a consultation with the SAB before it embarks on 
further effort to develop a more comprehensive assessment framework and 
set of testing protocols for use in important areas such as waste reuse 
and site remediation. At this consultation, EPA will describe for the 
EEC the direction of work performed and issues relating to recent and 
ongoing research on leach testing. EPA does not look for consensus 
recommendations at this time. Instead it seeks a variety of 
perspectives to enrich its understanding of two issues. One is the 
potential for long-term research work to develop a fundamental 
understanding of leaching that would improve the predictive capability 
of test suites or testing frameworks. The second issue is identifying 
modest short-term changes that could potentially improve particular 
programs, specifically programs that do not now require the use of the 
TCLP.
    Opportunity to Comment on Suitability of the EEC for this 
Consultation: The SAB Staff Office has determined that the following 
expertise is needed for the consultation on improving leach testing of 
waste which will be held at the June 17-18 meeting: environmental 
chemistry and microbiology; industrial wastes; leaching, transport and 
fate; modeling; quality systems; remediation of contaminated sites; 
soils and subsurface systems; and waste management. Because the Staff 
Office has further determined that the EEC has the necessary expertise 
to conduct this consultation without the need for additional expert 
consultants, it is not soliciting additional experts for this 
consultation.
    The public has the opportunity to provide information, analysis or 
other documentation relevant to the use of the EEC for this 
consultation. To facilitate this, biosketches for the EEC members will 
be posted on the SAB Web site http://www.epa.gov/sab/eecconsultationonleaching.html. Those wishing to comment should contact 
the DFO, Ms. Kathleen White, whose contact information is provided 
above.
    Definitions: For the EPA SAB, a balanced committee is characterized 
by inclusion of individuals who possess the necessary domains of 
knowledge, the relevant scientific perspective, and the collective 
breadth of expertise to adequately address the charge.
    A ``consultation'' is one of several types of formal interaction 
between EPA and the Science Advisory Board. The purpose of a 
consultation is to conduct an early discussion between EPA and the SAB 
to help articulate important issues in the development of a project. 
The meeting is public and consists of briefings and discussions. In 
some cases a partial document, or an early draft is available to serve 
as the basis for discussions. A charge is often used. No consensus 
advice is sought and no report is generated by the SAB.
    Teleconference Meeting: The EEC will meet by conference call Friday 
May 16, 2003 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The 
conference call will be used to plan the June 17-18, 2003 face-to-face 
meeting and is likely to include briefings relevant to the leaching 
consultation as well as other items of committee business. 
Participation will be by teleconference only. A limited number of lines 
are available. To participate, please contact the DFO above no later 
than the day before the meeting.
    Face-to-face Meeting: The EEC will meet face-to-face on Tuesday and 
Wednesday June 17-18, 2003 to participate in a consultation with the 
EPA's Office of Solid Waste on improving Agency leach testing of waste 
and conduct other Committee business.
    General Information: The SAB was established by 42 U.S.C. 4365 to 
provide independent scientific and technical advice, consultation, and 
recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the technical basis for 
Agency positions and regulations. This committee of the SAB will comply 
with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and 
all appropriate SAB policies and procedures. General information 
concerning the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found on the EPA Web 
site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.
    Agendas for the meetings that are the subject of this notice will 
be posted on the SAB Web site (www.epa.gov/sab) (under the AGENDAs 
subheading) approximately 10 days before the meeting. Other materials 
that may be available will also be posted on the SAB Web site in this 
time-frame, linked to the calendar entry for this meeting (http://www.epa.gov/sab/mtgcal.htm.)
    It is the policy of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) to accept 
written public comments of any length, and to accommodate oral public 
comments whenever possible. The EPA SAB 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 ten minutes (unless otherwise indicated). For conference call 
meetings, opportunities for oral comment will usually be limited to no 
more than three minutes per speaker and no more than fifteen minutes 
total. Interested parties should contact the Designated Federal 
Official (DFO) at least one week prior to the meeting in order to be 
placed on the public speaker list for the meeting.

[[Page 22379]]

Speakers may attend the meeting and provide comment up to the meeting 
time. Speakers should bring at least 35 copies of their comments and 
presentation slides for distribution to the participants 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 below in the 
following formats: one hard copy with original signature, and one 
electronic copy via e-mail (acceptable file format: Adobe Acrobat, 
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. 
Should comment be provided at the meeting and not in advance of the 
meeting, they should be in-hand to the DFO up to and immediately 
following the meeting.
    Meeting Accommodations: Individuals requiring special accommodation 
to access these meetings, should contact the DFO at least five business 
days prior to the meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

    Dated: April 22, 2003.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 03-10399 Filed 4-25-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P