[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 66 (Thursday, April 7, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17688-17689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-6945]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL -7896-1]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of an Upcoming 
Science Advisory Board Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a 
public teleconference meeting of an SAB Quality Review Committee (QRC) 
to discuss and to review a draft SAB report, Identifying and 
Calculating Economic Benefit that Goes Beyond Avoided and/or Delayed 
Costs: An SAB Draft Advisory.

DATES: April 29, 2005. A public telephone conference meeting of the SAB 
Quality Review Committee (QRC)

[[Page 17689]]

will be held on April 29, 2005, from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. (eastern time) 
to discuss the draft SAB report, Identifying and Calculating Economic 
Benefit that Goes Beyond Avoided and/or Delayed Costs: An SAB Draft 
Advisory.

ADDRESSES: The meeting for this review will be held by telephone only. 
Members of the public who wish to obtain the call-in number for this 
meeting should contact the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) for this 
meeting. The SAB mailing address is: U.S. EPA, Science Advisory Board 
(1400F), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. General 
information about the SAB, as well as any updates concerning the 
meeting announced in this notice, may be found on the SAB Web site at: 
http://www.epa.gov/sab.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to 
obtain information regarding this teleconference meeting may contact 
Mr. Thomas O. Miller, DFO, at (202) 343-9982 or e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance 
Assurance (OECA) requested that the EPA Science Advisory Board review 
the OECA White Paper entitled Identifying and Calculating Economic 
Benefit that Goes Beyond Avoided and/or Delayed Costs, dated May 25, 
2003. Accordingly, the SAB Staff Office formed an Ad Hoc Panel to 
review the EPA White Paper. This was announced in a notice in the 
Federal Register of August 6, 2003 (68 FR 46604) in which the SAB Staff 
Office solicited nominations for Panel membership. The Panel held 
several meetings to discuss and draft its advisory as announced in 
Federal Register notices published on June 25, 2004 (69 FR 35599) and 
January 6, 2005 (70 FR 1244). These notices can be found on the SAB Web 
site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/icaebapanel.html.
    The White Paper addressing ``illegal competitive advantage'' (ICA) 
issues is related to EPA's policy of recapturing violators' economic 
benefit from environmental noncompliance. Most of the Agency's cases 
involving this type of economic benefit focus on the financial gain 
that arises from delayed and/or avoided pollution control costs. In 
these situations, the Agency calculates the economic benefit using the 
``BEN'' (Benefits) computer model. EPA's White Paper provides an 
approach to capture economic benefits from situations that are not 
covered by the BEN model's focus on avoided and/or delayed 
expenditures.
    The SAB is now conducting a quality review of the Panel's draft 
advisory report. The purpose of the QRC is to determine whether: (i) 
The original charge questions to the SAB review panel have been 
adequately addressed, (ii) the report is clear and logical, and (iii) 
any conclusions drawn, or recommendations provided, are supported by 
the body of information in the advisory report. The outcome of the QRC 
review will be one, or a combination of one or more, of the following: 
(i) Recommend SAB approval of the report without substantive change, 
(ii) return the report to the review panel for further work, or (iii) 
reject the work of the review panel and request a reconsideration and a 
revised report in the future.
    Availability of Review Material for the Board Meeting: Documents 
that are the subject of this meeting are available on the SAB Web site 
at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/icaebapanel.html.
    Procedures for Providing Public Comment: The SAB Staff Office 
accepts written public comments of any length, and accommodates oral 
public comments whenever possible. The SAB Staff Office expects that 
public statements presented at SAB 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 
teleconference meeting will usually be limited to no more than three 
minutes per speaker and no more than fifteen minutes total. Interested 
parties should contact the DFO noted above in writing via e-mail at 
least one week prior to the meeting in order to be placed on the public 
speaker list for the meeting. Speakers should provide an electronic 
copy of their comments for distribution to interested parties and 
participants in the meeting. Written Comments: Although written 
comments are accepted 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 DFO at the address/contact information above 
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 98/2000/XP 
format).
    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: March 31, 2005.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 05-6945 Filed 4-6-05; 8:45 am]
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