[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 113 (Thursday, June 12, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35212-35213]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-14877]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7511-9]


Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, Science Advisory Board: 
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Ozone Review Panel; 
Request for Nominations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) of the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is announcing the 
reconstitution of the Ozone Review Panel (Panel) and is hereby 
soliciting nominations for this Panel.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by July 3, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Nominations should be submitted in electronic format through 
the Form for Nominating Individuals to Panels of the EPA Science 
Advisory Board provided on the SAB Web site. The form can be accessed 
through a link on the blue navigational bar on the SAB Web site, http://www.epa.gov/sab. To be considered, all nominations must include the 
information required on that form. Anyone who is unable to submit 
nominations via this form may contact Mr. Fred Butterfield, Designated 
Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science Advisory Board Staff, at telephone/
voice mail: (202) 564-4561; or via e-mail at: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact 
Mr. Fred Butterfield, DFO, as indicated above. General information 
concerning the CASAC or the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found at: 
http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Summary

    The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee is announcing the 
reconstitution of its Ozone Review Panel to conduct reviews of the 
criteria and national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone. 
The CASAC is hereby soliciting nominations to establish the members of 
the new Panel. The Ozone Review Panel is intended to operate for two to 
five (nominally, three) years, with a separate charge to be issued to 
the Panel by the Agency for each review or project.
    The CASAC, which comprises seven members appointed by the EPA 
Administrator, was established by section 109(d)(2) of the Clean Air 
Act (42 U.S.C. 7409) as an independent scientific advisory committee, 
in part to provide advice and recommendations related to the Agency's 
periodic reviews of the criteria and NAAQS required under sections 108 
and 109 of the Act. To provide the appropriate range of expertise 
needed for the review of the criteria and standards for each pollutant 
for which NAAQS are established, a Panel of experts is typically formed 
by supplementing the expertise provided by the seven CASAC members 
themselves. As the Agency is now in the early stages of its review of 
the criteria and standards for ozone, the Ozone Review Panel is being 
reconstituted at this time. The CASAC, which is administratively 
located under the EPA Science Advisory Board, reports to the EPA 
Administrator. All seven statutory members of the CASAC will also serve 
as members of the CASAC Ozone Review Panel. Accordingly, once the CASAC 
Ozone Review Panel completes its deliberations on a given activity, its 
report will be transmitted directly to the Administrator.
    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. Both the CASAC and the SAB are Federal advisory committees 
chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended 
(5 U.S.C. App.). The CASAC Ozone Review Panel will comply with the 
provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB procedural policies, 
including the process for panel formation described in the Overview of 
the Panel Formation Process at the Environmental Protection Agency 
Science Advisory Board, which can found at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf.

Nominator's Assessment of Expertise

    When submitting nominations to the CASAC Ozone Review Panel, please 
explicitly indicate the specific areas of expertise the candidate could 
contribute. The CASAC requests nominees who are recognized, national-
level experts in one or more of the following disciplines:
    (a) Atmospheric Science. Expertise in physical/chemical properties 
of ozone and other photochemical oxidants, their precursor substances, 
and atmospheric processes involved in the formation, transport, and 
degradation of ozone and other photochemical oxidants in the 
atmosphere, including interaction with global climate and stratospheric 
ozone. Also, expertise in the evaluation of natural and man-made 
(anthropogenic) sources and emissions of precursors of tropospheric 
ozone and other photochemical oxidants, pertinent monitoring/
measurement methods for such substances, and spatial/temporal trends in 
atmospheric concentrations of them.
    (b) Exposure and Risk Assessment/Modeling. Expertise in measuring 
human population exposure to ozone and/or in modeling human exposure to 
ambient and indoor pollutants. Also, expertise in human health risk 
analysis modeling for ozone or other pollutants causing respiratory 
and/or other non-cancer health effects.
    (c) Ecological Effects and Resource Valuation. Expertise in 
evaluation of: Patterns of exposure to ozone and/or other photochemical 
oxidants of ornamental and/or agricultural plants and/or natural 
ecosystems and their components; effects of ozone and other 
photochemical oxidants on natural ecosystems (especially terrestrial) 
and their components (both flora and fauna), ranging from biochemical/
sub-cellular effects and identification of indicators of 
pathophysiological effects at the individual plant level, to effects on 
species and populations, on up to include impacts on increasingly more 
complex (e.g., landscape) levels of ecosystem organization. Also, 
expertise in (i) ecosystem risk assessment and (ii)

[[Page 35213]]

ecological resource valuation/economics.
    (d) Dosimetry. Expertise in conducting and/or evaluation of the 
dosimetry of animal and human subjects, including identification of 
factors determining differential patterns of inhalation and/or 
deposition/uptake in respiratory tract regions that may contribute to 
differential susceptibility of human population subgroups and animal-
to-human dosimetry extrapolations.
    (e) Toxicology. Expertise in conducting and/or evaluation of 
experimental laboratory animal studies of the effects of ozone and/or 
other photochemical oxidants on respiratory and non-respiratory (e.g., 
lung defense/other immune function mechanisms) endpoints.
    (f) Controlled Human Exposure. Expertise in conducting and/or 
evaluation of controlled human exposure studies of the effects of such 
substances on healthy and compromised (having pertinent preexisting 
chronic disease, e.g., asthma) human adults and children, including 
medical doctors (M.D.) with experience in the clinical treatment of 
asthma.
    (g) Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Expertise in epidemiological 
evaluation of the effects of exposures to ambient ozone and/or other 
major ambient air co-pollutants (e.g., particulate matter, sulfur 
dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide) on human population groups, 
including effects on mortality and/or morbidity (e.g., respiratory 
symptoms, lung function decrements, asthma medication use, respiratory-
related hospital admissions) endpoints. Also, expertise in associated 
biostatistics and/or health risk analysis (including Bayesian 
statistical approaches).

Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations

    Any interested person or organization may nominate qualified 
individuals to add expertise to the Panel in the areas of expertise 
described above. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format 
through the Form for Nominating Individuals to Panels of the EPA 
Science Advisory Board provided on the SAB Web site. The form can be 
accessed through a link on the blue navigational bar on the SAB Web 
site, http://www.epa.gov/sab. To be considered, all nominations must 
include the information required on that form.
    Anyone who is unable to submit nominations using this form, and any 
questions concerning any aspects of the nomination process may contact 
Mr. Fred Butterfield, DFO, as indicated above in this Federal Register 
notice. Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than 
July 3, 2003.
    To be considered, all nominations must include: (a) A current 
biography, curriculum vitae (C.V.) or resume, which provides the 
nominee's background, experience and qualifications for the Panel; and 
(b) a brief biographical sketch (``biosketch''). The biosketch should 
be no longer than one page and must contain the following information 
for the nominee:
    (i) Current professional affiliations and positions held;
    (ii) Area(s) of expertise, and research activities and interests;
    (iii) Leadership positions in national associations or professional 
publications or other significant distinctions;
    (iv) Educational background, especially advanced degrees, including 
when and from which institutions these were granted;
    (v) Service on other advisory committees, professional societies, 
especially those associated with issues under discussion in this 
review; and
    (vi) Sources of recent (i.e., within the preceding two years) grant 
and/or other contract support, from government, industry, academia, 
etc., including the topic area of the funded activity.
    Please note that even if there is no responsive information (e.g., 
no recent grant or contract funding), this must be indicated on the 
biosketch (by ``N/A'' or ``None''). Incomplete biosketches will result 
in nomination packages not being accepted.
    The EPA Science Advisory Board will acknowledge receipt of the 
nomination and inform nominators of the panel selected. From the 
nominees identified by respondents to this Federal Register notice 
(termed the ``Widecast''), SAB Staff will develop a smaller subset 
(known as the ``Short List'') for more detailed consideration. Criteria 
used by the SAB Staff in developing this Short List are given at the 
end of the following paragraph. The Short List will be posted on the 
SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab, and will include, for each 
candidate, the nominee's name and their biosketch. Public comments will 
be accepted for 21 calendar days on the Short List. During this comment 
period, the public will be requested to provide information, analysis 
or other documentation on nominees that the SAB Staff should consider 
in evaluating candidates for the CASAC Ozone Review Panel.
    For the EPA SAB, a balanced review panel is characterized by 
inclusion of 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. Public 
responses to the Short List candidates will be considered in the 
selection of the Panel, along with information provided by candidates 
and information gathered by EPA SAB Staff independently on the 
background of each candidate (e.g., financial disclosure information 
and computer searches to evaluate a nominee's prior involvement with 
the topic under review). Specific criteria to be used in evaluating an 
individual Panel member 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) scientific credibility and impartiality; and 
(e) skills working in committees, subcommittees and advisory panels. 
Ozone Review Panel members will likely be asked to attend two to three 
public, face-to-face meetings and several public teleconference 
meetings per year over the anticipated two-to five-year course of the 
Panel's activity.
    Short List candidates will also be required to fill-out 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, which is used by EPA SAB Members and Consultants, 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.

    Dated: June 5, 2003.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 03-14877 Filed 6-11-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P