[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 160 (Friday, August 19, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48705-48706]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-16491]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7956-6]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

[[Page 48706]]


ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a 
public teleconference of an SAB Quality Review Committee (QRC) to 
review and discuss the SAB Draft Advisory Report on EPA's Regional 
Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) Program.

DATES: September 8, 2005. A public telephone conference of the SAB 
Quality Review Committee (QRC) will be held on September 8, 2005, from 
1 p.m. until 3 p.m. (eastern time).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to 
obtain the call-in number and access code for this teleconference may 
contact Mr. Thomas O. Miller, Designated Federal Officer, via telephone 
at (202) 343-9982 or via e-mail at [email protected]. An agenda and 
the documents that are the subject of this teleconference will be 
posted on the SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab. The SAB mailing 
address is: U.S. EPA, Science Advisory Board (1400F), 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EPA Office of Research and Development 
requested a consultation with the SAB to review the methods and 
predictive tools used in ReVA, and the effectiveness of the ReVA 
integration toolkit (the ReVA Web-based Environmental Decision Toolkit 
or EDT) for communicating risk and uncertainty to clients and users. 
EPA's ReVA Program develops approaches to conducting comprehensive, 
regional-scale environmental assessments that can inform decision-
makers about the magnitude, extent, distribution, and uncertainty of 
current and anticipated environmental vulnerabilities. In the context 
of ReVA, environmental vulnerabilities are risks of serious degradation 
of ecological goods and services that are valued by society. ReVA 
approaches make use of existing spatial data to depict: (1) The current 
patterns of condition and distribution of resources and human 
demographics, (2) variability in sensitivity of resources and human 
populations to various stresses, and (3) estimated spatial distribution 
of stressors. Future vulnerability estimates derived by ReVA include 
syntheses of: (1) Modeled estimates of ecological drivers of change 
(i.e. changes in pollution and pollutants, resource extraction, spread 
of non-indigenous species, land use change, and climate change) and 
resulting changes in stressor patterns; and (2) changes in resource 
sensitivity and projected changes in human demographics. The predictive 
tools in ReVA provide decision-makers with information about current 
and future cumulative stresses and spatially-explicit identification of 
anticipated environmental problems. These predictive tools can also be 
used to illustrate the trade-offs associated with alternative 
environmental and economic policies in the context of dynamic 
stakeholder values. ReVA relies heavily on the use of geographic 
information system technologies and quantitative integration and 
assessment methods to develop useful measures of a suite of decision-
criteria for decision-makers at multiple scales. The SAB Panel held 
several meetings to discuss and draft its advisory as announced in 
Federal Register notices published on October 13, 2004 (69 FR 60864), 
and March 24, 2005 (70 FR 15084). These notices can be found on the SAB 
Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/reva_rev_panel.htm.
    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 referred to the SAB for action during the Board's final 
public review of the draft report.
    Procedures for Providing Public Comment: The SAB Staff Office 
accepts written public comments of any length, and will accommodate 
oral public comments whenever possible. The SAB Staff Office expects 
that public statements at the SAB Quality Review Committee review of 
the Draft Advisory Report on EPA's Regional Vulnerability Assessment 
(ReVA) Program will not repeat previously submitted oral or written 
statements. Oral Comments: Requests to provide oral comments must be in 
writing (e-mail or fax) and received by Mr. Miller no later than 
September 1, 2005, to reserve time on the September 8, 2005, agenda. 
For teleconferences, opportunities for oral comment will be limited to 
no more than five minutes per speaker. Written Comments: Written 
comments should be received in the SAB Staff Office by the date 
specified above 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: August 12, 2005.
Anthony Maciorowski,
Acting Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 05-16491 Filed 8-18-05; 8:45 am]
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