[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 146 (Wednesday, July 30, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44758-44760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-19276]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7536-6]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations for 
Additional Expertise for the Consultation on EPA's Strategy on 
Suspended and Bedded Sediments

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is 
requesting nominations to add additional expertise to the SAB 
Ecological Processes and Effects Committee for a panel to provide a 
consultation to EPA on Suspended and Bedded Sediments (SABS).

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by August 20, 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, 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 Dr. L. Joseph Bachman, Designated Federal Officer as indicated 
below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Request for Nomination may contact 
Dr. L. Joseph Bachman, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), via telephone/
voice mail at (202) 564-3968; via e-mail at [email protected]; or 
at U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board (1400A), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW., 
Washington DC 20460. General information about the SAB can be found in 
the SAB web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Summary: The U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board

[[Page 44759]]

Staff Office is requesting nominations to add expertise to the Science 
Advisory Board's Ecological Processes and Effects Committee to form a 
Panel on Suspended and Bedded Sediments (SABS). The EPA Office of Water 
is preparing a strategy for developing water quality criteria guidance 
for SABS, which will examine and evaluate the most promising scientific 
approaches for doing this. The Panel on Suspended and Bedded Sediments 
will provide a consultation on the Strategy, reporting through the EPA 
Science Advisory Board to the Agency.
    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. The SAB Staff Office provides technical and administrative 
support to the SAB in conducting its mission.
    The project the Panel on Suspended and Bedded Sediments will 
undertake is expected to be a one-day consultation. Over that period, 
the Panel will comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate 
SAB procedural policies, including the SAB process for panel formation 
described in the ``Overview of the Panel Formation Process at the 
Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board,'' which can be 
found on the SAB's Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf. 
Those selected to serve on the Panel will review the draft materials 
identified in this notice and respond to the charge questions provided 
below.

Background

    Water Quality Standards: States, and Tribes with authorization to 
conduct a water quality standards program, are required by section 
303(c) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) to adopt water quality standards. 
Such water quality standards must protect public health and welfare, 
protect designated uses, enhance the quality of water and serve the 
purposes of the CWA. Water quality standards consist of a designated 
use(s) for a water body, water quality criteria to protect the 
designated use(s), and an antidegradation policy. Section 101(a) of the 
CWA specifies that water quality standards should provide, wherever 
attainable, ``water quality which provides for the protection and 
propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for 
recreation in and on the water.'' Section 303(c) states that water 
quality standards should be established for water bodies taking into 
consideration their use and value for public water supplies; 
propagation of fish and wildlife, recreational, agricultural, 
industrial, navigation, and other purposes.
    EPA, under section 304(a) of the CWA periodically publishes water 
quality criteria guidance for use by States and Tribes in setting water 
quality standards. This guidance typically contains recommended water 
quality criteria values or criteria development methodologies. Water 
quality criteria are levels of individual pollutants or water quality 
characteristics, or descriptions of conditions of a water body that, if 
met, will generally protect the designated use(s). Water quality 
criteria published pursuant to section 304(a) of the CWA are based 
solely on data and scientific judgements on the relationship between 
pollutant concentrations and environmental and human health effects and 
do not reflect consideration of economic impacts or the technological 
feasibility of meeting the chemical concentrations in ambient water.
    States and Tribes may adopt EPA's recommended criteria into their 
water quality standards or they may adopt water quality criteria 
modified to reflect site-specific conditions, or criteria derived using 
other scientifically defensible methods. These criteria recommendations 
have been critical tools for the States, Tribes, and EPA to control 
most forms of pollution and improve water quality across the Nation.
    Within recent years, however, the States and EPA have identified 
new issues that are causing significant water quality problems for 
which water quality criteria have yet to be published or updated. One 
such concern is the imbalance of suspended solids and bedded sediments 
(SABS) in water bodies. In many water bodies, SABS are severely out of 
balance due to human activities within the watershed. In most cases the 
problem is excessive sediments, but in some cases the problem is too 
little sediment.
    Suspended and Bedded Sediments (SABS): Suspended and bedded 
sediments are defined by EPA as particulate organic and inorganic 
matter that suspend in or are carried by the water, and/or accumulate 
in a loose, unconsolidated form on the bottom of natural water bodies. 
This includes clean sediment, suspended sediment concentration (SSC), 
total suspended solids (TSS), bedload, turbidity, or in more common 
terms, dirt, soils or eroded materials.
    In excessive amounts, SABS constitute a major ecosystem stressor. 
According to the National Water Quality Inventory--2000 Report, 
excessive sediment was the leading cause of impairment of the Nation's 
waters. The highest frequency of impairment was reported for rivers and 
streams, followed by lakes, reservoirs, ponds, and estuaries.
    SABS can impair surface water designated uses in various ways. 
Excessive sediment deposits can severely impact aquatic-life uses by 
choking spawning gravels, depleting food sources for fish, filling 
rearing pools, and reducing beneficial habitat structure in stream 
channels. Sediments can impair aesthetic uses and can cause taste, 
odor, and other problems in drinking water supplies. Excessive sediment 
can block water-supply intakes and disturb treatment systems. Excessive 
turbidity can make swimming and other recreational uses of waters 
dangerous or undesirable. Turbidity can also block light transmission 
to the subsurface and disrupt the growth of submerged aquatic 
vegetation. Insufficient sediment supply can cause impairments to 
aquatic life uses by resulting in stream channel scour and destruction 
of habitat.
    SABS present a water-quality problem different from that of manmade 
toxic compounds and similar to that of nutrients, as they naturally 
occur in water bodies, and in natural or background amounts, they are 
essential to the ecological function of a water body. These functions 
include transporting nutrients and replenishing sediment bedloads that 
create valuable micro-habitats, such as pools and sand bars. Thus, a 
basic premise for managing suspended and bedded sediments in water 
bodies to protect aquatic-life uses may be the need to maintain natural 
levels of SABS in water bodies.
    There are also other types of designated uses of water bodies, 
other than aquatic life, which need to be protected from SABS. These 
include recreation in and on the water, shipping, drinking water 
sources, industrial water use and agricultural water use. The premise 
that SABS levels should be maintained at natural levels may not 
necessarily be valid for these types of uses. However, water bodies may 
have multiple use designations including aquatic life as well as those 
other uses listed above.
    Water Quality Criteria for SABS: In 1976, EPA issued a water 
quality criteria recommendation for solids and turbidity that uses a 
10% reduction of the depth of the compensation point for photosynthetic 
activity. For a variety of reasons, this criterion is seldom, if ever, 
used by the States. It is questionable whether this criterion would 
achieve intended protection for all different designated uses for water 
bodies.

[[Page 44760]]

    Although most States currently have water quality criteria that can 
be applied to manage SABS, these are typically based on turbidity, 
suspended solids or settleable solids, and their effectiveness for 
dealing with all water quality impairments caused by SABS, especially 
as benchmarks for aquatic life protection based on natural levels, is 
questionable. In recent consultation with State representatives, the 
need for new water quality criteria for SABS or methodologies for 
deriving them on a site-specific basis was identified as one of the 
highest priorities for the water quality criteria program. As a result, 
the EPA Office of Water has concluded that to better manage SABS in all 
types of water bodies and for all designated uses, State and Tribal 
water quality managers need new and updated water quality criteria and 
information for SABS.
    The potential approaches for criteria development that EPA's Office 
of Water is considering investigating in the Strategy for Developing 
Water Quality Criteria for Suspended and Bedded Sediments (SABS) 
include the following:
    (1) State-by-State Reference Condition Criteria Derivation 
Approach;
    (2) Conditional Probability Approach to Establishing Thresholds;
    (3) Toxicological Dose-Response Approach;
    (4) Relative Bed Stability and Sedimentation Approach;
    (5) Rosgen Geomorphological Approach;
    (6) Water Body Use Functional Approach; and
    (7) Combinations of above approaches.
    General information about water-quality criteria and water-quality 
standards can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/. Information of obtaining a copy of the draft 
Strategy for Developing Water Quality Criteria for Suspended and Bedded 
Sediments will be provided at the time the formal meeting announcement 
is made for this consultation in September, or will be posted on the 
SAB Web site once the draft is provided to the SAB, whichever is 
earlier.
    Proposed Charge to the Panel: While many questions and much 
research remain, EPA seeks the opportunity for a consultation with the 
Science Advisory Board to gain advice and recommendations on the best 
potential approaches to developing water quality criteria for suspended 
and bedded sediments as will be described in a draft Strategy for 
Developing Water Quality Criteria for Suspended and Bedded Sediments 
(SABS) to be prepared by the Office of Water. The Office of Water is 
also seeking recommendations on additional criteria development 
approaches for uses of water bodies other than aquatic life, and it is 
also seeking advice on any potential criteria derivation methodology 
not included in the Strategy.
    SAB Request for Nominations: The EPA SAB is requesting nominations 
of individuals who are recognized, national-level experts in one or 
more of the following disciplines to supplement the expertise of the 
EPEC for this consultation: (a) Fluvial hydrogeomorphology; (b) fluvial 
habitat dynamics; (c) sediment and turbidity monitoring; and (d) 
fisheries biology.
    Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested 
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals to add 
expertise in the above areas for the panel for the consultation on the 
water quality strategy for suspended and bedded sediments.
    Anyone who is unable to submit nominations in electronic format may 
contact Dr. L. Joseph Bachman at the mailing address given earlier in 
this notice under the heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 
Nominations should be submitted before August 20, 2003. Any questions 
concerning either this process or any other aspects of this notice 
should be directed to Dr. Bachman.
    The EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office will acknowledge 
receipt of nominations 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 specific expertise to add to the panel 
for the consultation on the water quality strategy for suspended and 
bedded sediments.
    For the EPA SAB, a balanced panel (i.e., committee, subcommittee, 
or 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 Office 
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 subcommittee or panel member include: 
(a) Scientific and/or technical expertise, knowledge, and experience 
(primary factors); (b) scientific credibility and impartiality; (c) 
availability and willingness to serve; (b) absence of financial 
conflicts of interest; and (e) ability to work constructively and 
effectively in committees.
    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 submitted 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. 
Panel members will be asked to attend one public meeting in late 
September or early October, 2003 in addition to reviewing background 
material and a proposed strategy document provided by EPA.

    Dated: July 22, 2003.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 03-19276 Filed 7-29-03; 8:45 am]
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