[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 151 (Monday, August 7, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44695-44696]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-12764]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8206-6]


EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office; Clean Air 
Scientific Advisory Committee; Request for Nominations for CASAC Review 
Panels for NOX and SOX

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) 
Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is seeking nominations of 
nationally recognized experts for consideration of membership on two 
new Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Review Panels. One 
Review Panel will provide advice to EPA on primary (human health-based) 
air quality standards for oxides of nitrogen (NOX) and 
sulfur oxides (SOX), while the second will focus on 
secondary (welfare-based) standards.

DATES: New nominations should be submitted by August 28, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact 
Mr. Fred Butterfield, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science 
Advisory Board (1400F), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; via telephone/voice 
mail: (202) 343-9994; fax: (202) 233-0643; or e-mail at: 
[email protected]. General information concerning the CASAC or 
the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found on the EPA Web site at: 
http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: The Clean Air Scientific 
Advisory Committee (CASAC) was established under section 109(d)(2) of 
the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) (42 U.S.C. 7409) as an independent 
scientific advisory committee. The chartered CASAC provides advice, 
information and recommendations on the scientific and technical aspects 
of air quality criteria and national ambient air quality standards 
(NAAQS) under sections 108 and 109 of the Act. Section 109(d)(1) of the 
Clean Air Act (CAA) requires that EPA carry out a periodic review and 
revision, as appropriate, of the air quality criteria and the NAAQS for 
the six criteria air pollutants. EPA is currently preparing to review 
the air quality criteria for NOX and SOX. The SAB 
Staff Office is establishing two separate CASAC NOX and 
SOX Review Panels. One will provide advice to EPA on primary 
(human health-based) air quality standards for oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX) and sulfur oxides (SOX), while the second 
will focus on secondary (welfare-based) standards. The CASAC 
NOX and SOX Review Panels will comply with the 
provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural 
policies.
    The CASAC NOX and SOX Review Panels will each 
consist of the seven members of the chartered CASAC supplemented by 
additional subject matter experts. This Federal Register notice seeks 
nominations for the subject matter experts described below. The CASAC 
NOX and SOX Review Panels will comply with the 
provisions of FACA and all appropriate EPA procedural policies.
    Expertise Sought: The SAB Staff Office requests nominees who are 
nationally-recognized experts regarding NOX and 
SOX in one or more of the following disciplines.

(1) CASAC Primary (Health-Based) Review Panel

    (a) Atmospheric Science. Expertise in physical and chemical 
properties of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides; atmospheric processes 
involved in their formation and transport on urban to global scales; 
transformation of these pollutants in the atmosphere; and movement of 
the pollutants between media through deposition and other such 
mechanisms. Also, expertise in the evaluation of natural and 
anthropogenic sources and emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur 
oxides and resulting ambient levels due to natural sources; pertinent 
monitoring or measurement methods for these pollutants; and spatial and 
temporal trends in their atmospheric concentrations.
    (b) Human Health Exposure and Risk Assessment/Modeling. Expertise 
in measuring human population exposure to nitrogen oxides and sulfur 
oxides, or in modeling human population exposure to pollutants from 
ambient and indoor sources. Expertise in human health risk analysis 
modeling for nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides related to respiratory 
and other non-cancer health effects.
    (c) Dosimetry. Expertise in 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.
    (d) Toxicology. Expertise in evaluation of experimental laboratory 
animal studies and in vitro studies of the effects of sulfur oxides 
and/or oxides of nitrogen on pulmonary and extra-pulmonary (e.g., 
cardiovascular, immunological) endpoints.
    (e) Controlled Human Exposure. Expertise in evaluations of 
controlled human exposure studies of the effects of nitrogen oxides and 
sulfur oxides on healthy and compromised (e.g., having pertinent 
preexisting disease such as asthma) human adults and children, 
including physicians with experience in the clinical treatment of 
asthma and chronic lung diseases.
    (f) Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Expertise in epidemiologic 
evaluation of the effects of exposures to ambient nitrogen oxides and 
sulfur oxides and/or other major air pollutants (e.g., particulate 
matter, ozone, carbon monoxide) on human population groups, including 
mortality and morbidity effects (e.g., respiratory symptoms, lung 
function decrements, asthma medication use, emergency department 
visits, respiratory-related hospital admissions). Also, expertise in 
associated biostatistics and/or health risk analysis.

(2) CASAC Secondary (Welfare-Based) Review Panel

    (a) Atmospheric Science. Expertise in physical and chemical 
properties of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides; atmospheric processes 
involved in their

[[Page 44696]]

formation and transport on urban to global scales; transformation of 
these pollutants in the atmosphere; and movement of the pollutants 
between media through deposition and other such mechanisms. Also, 
expertise in the evaluation of natural and anthropogenic sources and 
emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides and resulting ambient 
levels due to natural sources; pertinent monitoring or measurement 
methods for these pollutants; and spatial and temporal trends in their 
atmospheric concentrations.
    (b) Ecological Effects. Expertise in evaluation of the effects of 
exposure to nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, acid deposition and 
nitrogen deposition, on agricultural crops and natural ecosystems and 
their components, both flora and fauna, ranging from biochemical/sub-
cellular effects on organisms to increasingly more complex levels of 
ecosystem organization. Appropriate expertise disciplines include: 
aquatic chemistry; aquatic ecology/biology; limnology; terrestrial 
ecology; forest ecology; grassland ecology; rangeland ecology; 
terrestrial/aquatic biogeochemistry; terrestrial/aquatic nutrient 
cycling; and terrestrial/aquatic wildlife biology and soil chemistry.
    (c) Other Welfare Effects. Expertise in the evaluation of the 
effects of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides and acid deposition on 
public welfare, including impaired visibility and damage to materials, 
and also the interactions of these pollutants to affect global climate 
conditions.
    (d) Ecosystem Exposure and Risk Assessment/Modeling. Expertise in 
deposition modeling across a range of scales from local watershed to 
landscape to continental, static and dynamic ecosystem response models, 
integrated assessment models, identification of bio-indicators useful 
for tracking ecosystem change, methods and approaches available to 
estimate total loadings of sulfur and nitrogen species to ecosystems, 
and the current state of critical loads science and application.
    (e) Resource Valuation. Expertise in ecological resources, other 
welfare effects valuation, and/or economic benefits assessment 
approaches and models.
    Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested 
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals for 
consideration of membership on the CASAC NOX and 
SOX Review Panels in the areas of expertise described above. 
Nominations should be submitted in electronic format through the SAB 
Web site at the following URL: http://www.epa.gov/sab; or directly via 
the Form for Nominating Individuals to Panels of the EPA Science 
Advisory Board link found at URL: http://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/paneltopics.html. Please follow the instructions for submitting 
nominations carefully. The nominating form requests contact information 
about: the person making the nomination; contact information about the 
nominee; the disciplinary and specific areas of expertise of the 
nominee; the nominee's curriculum vita; and a biographical sketch of 
the nominee indicating current position, educational background; 
research activities; and recent service on other national advisory 
committees or national professional organizations. To be considered, 
nominations should include all of the information required on the 
associated forms. Anyone unable to submit nominations using the 
electronic form and who has any questions concerning the nomination 
process may contact Mr. Fred Butterfield, DFO, as indicated above in 
this notice. Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later 
than August 28, 2006. The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt 
of nominations.
    Qualified nominees will be included in a smaller subset of nominees 
known as the Short List. 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 on the Short 
List will be accepted for a minimum of 21 calendar days. During this 
comment period, the public will be requested to provide relevant 
information or other documentation on nominees that the SAB Staff 
Office should consider in evaluating candidates. CASAC Review Panel 
members will be selected from the Short List.
    For the EPA SAB Staff Office, a balanced subcommittee or review 
panel includes 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. In 
establishing the final CASAC Review Panels, the SAB Staff Office will 
consider public responses to the Short List, information provided by 
candidates, and background information independently gathered by the 
SAB Staff Office on 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 Short List candidates for Panel membership 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) absence of an 
appearance of a lack of impartiality; and (e) skills working in 
committees, subcommittees and advisory panels; and, for the Panel as a 
whole, (f) diversity of and balance among, scientific expertise, 
viewpoints.
    Prospective 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 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.
    The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects 
subcommittees and review panels is described in the following document: 
Overview of the Panel Formation Process at the Environmental Protection 
Agency Science Advisory Board (EPA-SAB-EC-02-010), which is posted on 
the SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf.

    Dated: August 1, 2006.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Associate Director for Science, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff 
Office.
 [FR Doc. E6-12764 Filed 8-4-06; 8:45 am]
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