[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 6, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38910-38911]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-13278]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7933-5]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of an Upcoming 
Teleconference and Face-to-Face Meeting of the Polychlorinated 
Biphenyl--Artificial Reef Risk Assessment (PCB-ARRA) Consultative Panel 
of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a 
public teleconference and face-to-face meeting of the Polychlorinated 
Biphenyl--Artificial Reef Risk Assessment (PCB-ARRA) Consultative Panel 
.

DATES: A public teleconference of the Polychlorinated Biphenyl--
Artificial Reef Risk Assessment (PCB-ARRA) Consultative Panel will be 
held on July 22, 2005 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time. The face-to-
face meeting will be held on August 1, 2005 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
eastern time and will continue on August 2, 2005 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 
p.m. eastern time.

ADDRESSES: The public teleconference will take place via telephone 
only. The public face-to-face meeting of the PCB-ARRA Consultative 
Panel will be held at the SAB Conference Center located at the Woodies 
Building, 1025 F Street, NW., Room 3705, Washington, DC 20004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to 
obtain the call-in number and access code to participate in the 
teleconference may contact Dr. Sue Shallal, EPA Science Advisory Board 
Staff (1400F), U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 
20460; telephone/voice mail: (202) 343-9977 or via e-mail at 
[email protected]. Technical Contact: For questions and 
information concerning the documents being reviewed, please contact 
Craig Brown at (404) 562-8990 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Summary: EPA's Region 4 and Office of Prevention, Pesticides and 
Toxic Substances (OPPTS) have requested that the EPA Science Advisory 
Board (SAB) conduct a Consultation followed by an Advisory on the human 
health and ecological risk assessments prepared and submitted by the 
U.S. Navy. The purpose of this upcoming teleconference is for the PCB-
ARRA Consultative Panel to receive a briefing on the document to be 
reviewed and to clarify the charge to the panel. A meeting agenda and 
background information will be posted on the SAB Web site (http://www.epa.gov/sab/) prior to the meeting.
    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. A SAB panel composed of current members will conduct the 
consultation. The purpose of a consultation is to provide non-
consensus, oral advice on the preliminary assessment. Following the 
consultation, the SAB will conduct an advisory to provide consensus 
written advice on the U.S. Navy's revised assessment. The advisory will 
be conducted by a panel consisting of current SAB members and 
additional outside experts. These panels will comply with the 
provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and all 
appropriate SAB

[[Page 38911]]

procedural policies. As such, all public meetings will be announced in 
the Federal Register at least 15 days prior to their scheduled times.
    Background: The U.S. Navy and the State of Florida are planning to 
deploy the ex-Oriskany, a World War II era aircraft carrier, as an 
artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico. In accordance with the Toxic 
Substances Control Act (TSCA) and its Federal PCB regulations (40 CFR 
part 761), the U.S. Navy has applied for and must obtain a risk-based 
PCB disposal approval prior to sinking the vessel with non-liquid PCBs 
onboard. The EPA may approve such an application if it finds the 
disposal action will not pose an unreasonable risk of injury to human 
health or the environment. To evaluate the potential transfer of non-
liquid PCBs to the marine environment and the subsequent risk that they 
might pose to human and ecological receptors using the artificial reef, 
the Navy performed leaching studies of different on-board PCB 
containing materials followed by fate and transport modeling of the 
leaching results to evaluate how released chemicals might behave in the 
near-reef marine environment. The U.S. Navy has also developed a fate 
and transport model known as the Prospective Risk Assessment Model 
(PRAM). EPA Region 4 has requested that the SAB conduct a consultation 
followed by an advisory on the U.S. Navy's assessment of potential 
human health and environmental risks from PCBs released from the ex-
Oriskany following deployment as an artificial reef. The focus of the 
SAB consultation and advisory includes the leaching studies, the PRAM, 
and characterization of potential risks.
    Procedures for Providing Public Comment: The EPA SAB Staff Office 
will accept written public comments of any length for the SAB Panel's 
consideration, and accommodate oral public comments whenever possible. 
The EPA SAB Staff Office expects that public statements presented at 
this meeting will not repeat previously submitted oral or written 
statements to this Panel. Oral Comments: Requests to provide oral 
comments must be in writing (e-mail, fax or mail) and received by Dr. 
Shallal no later than five business days prior to the teleconference or 
meeting to reserve time on the meeting agenda. For teleconferences, 
opportunities for oral comment will usually be limited to no more than 
three minutes per speaker or organization and no more than fifteen 
minutes total. Written Comments: Written comments should be received in 
the SAB Staff Office at least five business days 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 noted 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).

    Dated: June 28, 2005.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Acting Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 05-13278 Filed 7-5-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P