[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 45 (Thursday, March 8, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10527-10528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-4168]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8285-6]


EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office Request for 
Nominations for Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) 
Particular Matter (PM Review Panel)

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 announcing the formation 
of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) review panel for 
Particulate Matter (PM). The SAB Staff Office is soliciting public 
nominations for this Panel.

DATES: New nominations should be submitted by March 29, 2007.

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. 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. The 
CASAC is a Federal advisory committee chartered under the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C., App. 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, 
including PM. This Federal Register notice solicitation is seeking 
nominations for additional, subject-matter experts to augment the 
chartered CASAC. This CASAC Panel will review EPA's technical and 
policy assessments that form the basis for updating the NAAQS for PM. 
The CASAC PM Review Panel will comply with the provisions of FACA and 
all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural policies.
    Nominator's Assessment of Expertise. The SAB Staff Office requests 
nominees for the CASAC PM Review Panel who are nationally-recognized 
experts in one or more of the following disciplines:
    (a) Atmospheric Science. Expertise in evaluating the physical/
chemical properties of particulate matter including transport of PM on 
urban to global scales, transformation of primary particles in the 
atmosphere to secondary particles, and movement of PM between media 
through deposition and other such mechanisms. Expertise in evaluating 
natural and anthropogenic sources and emissions of PM and resulting 
ambient levels, pertinent monitoring or measurement methods for PM, and 
spatial and temporal trends in PM atmospheric concentrations.
    (b) Human Exposure and Risk Assessment/Modeling. Expertise in 
measuring general population exposure to PM and/or in modeling exposure 
to PM emitted from ambient and indoor sources. Expertise in human 
health risk analysis modeling for PM related to respiratory, 
cardiovascular, and other non-cancer health effects as well as cancer. 
Expertise in characterizing uncertainty in exposure and risk analyses.
    (c) Dosimetry. Expertise in evaluating the dosimetry of animal and 
human subjects, including identifying factors associated with 
differential patterns of inhalation and/or deposition/uptake in various 
respiratory tract regions that may contribute to differential 
susceptibility of sensitive subpopulations and animal-to-human 
dosimetry extrapolations.
    (d) Toxicology. Expertise in evaluating and interpreting 
experimental laboratory animal studies, including animal models 
simulating sensitive subpopulations (e.g., children, older adults, 
individuals with preexisting respiratory or cardiac disease), and in 
vitro studies of the effects of PM on pulmonary and extrapulmonary 
(e.g., cardiovascular, immunological) endpoints and cancer.
    (e) Controlled Human Exposure. Expertise in evaluating and 
interpreting controlled human exposure studies of the effects of PM on 
the general population and sensitive subpopulations (e.g., children, 
older adults, individuals with preexisting respiratory or cardiac 
disease). Experts would include physicians with experience in the 
clinical treatment of cardiopulmonary diseases, including asthma, 
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and diabetes.
    (f) Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Expertise in evaluating 
epidemiological evidence of the effects of exposures to ambient PM and 
other major air pollutants (e.g., ozone, SO2, 
NO2, carbon monoxide) on the general population and 
sensitive subpopulations (e.g., children, older adults, individuals 
with preexisting respiratory or cardiac disease). Expertise in 
evaluating a broad range of health endpoints, including mortality and 
morbidity effects (e.g., respiratory symptoms, lung function 
decrements, asthma medication use, physiological changes or biomarkers 
for cardiac changes, cardiopulmonary-related emergency department 
visits, cardiopulmonary-related hospital admissions, cancer). Expertise 
in using biostatistical models to interpret epidemiological evidence.
    (g) Effects on Visibility Impairment. Expertise in evaluating and 
interpreting studies of the effects of PM on local visibility 
impairment as well as regional haze. Expertise would include evaluating 
visibility trends and conditions in Class I, urban, and non-urban 
areas, studies of economic value of improving visual air quality, and 
approaches to assessing public perceptions of visibility impairment and 
judgments about the acceptability of varying degrees of visibility 
impairment.
    (h) Ecological Effects. Expertise in evaluating the effects of 
exposure to PM 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.
    (i) Other Welfare Effects. Expertise in evaluating the effects of 
PM on other public welfare effects, including damage to materials, and 
also the atmospheric interactions of PM as related to global climate 
conditions.
    (j) Ecosystem Exposure and Risk Assessment/Modeling. Expertise in 
deposition modeling across a range of

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scales from local watershed to landscape to continental; static and 
dynamic ecosystem response models; integrated assessment models; 
identification of bioindicators useful for tracking ecosystem change; 
and methods and approaches for estimating damage to ecosystems.
    (k) Resource Valuation. Expertise in ecological resource and 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 to add 
expertise to the CASAC PM Review Panel 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. 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 March 29, 2007.
    For nominees to be considered, please include: Contact information; 
a curriculum vitae; a biosketch of no more than two paragraphs 
(containing information on the nominee's current position, educational 
background, areas of expertise and research activities, service on 
other advisory committees and professional societies; the candidate's 
special expertise related to the panel being formed; and sources of 
recent grant and/or contract support).
    The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of nominations. 
The names and biosketchs of qualified nominees identified by 
respondents to the Federal Register notice and additional experts 
identified by the SAB Staff will be posted on the SAB Web site at: 
http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on this ``Short List'' of 
candidates will be accepted for 21 calendar days. The public will be 
requested to provide relevant information or other documentation on 
nominees that the SAB Staff Office should consider in evaluating 
candidates.
    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 PM Review Panel, the SAB Staff Office will 
consider public comments on the ``Short List'' of candidates, 
information provided by the candidates themselves, and background 
information independently gathered by the SAB Staff Office. Specific 
criteria to be used 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, etc.
    The SAB Staff Office's evaluation of an absence of financial 
conflicts of interest will include a review of 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: March 2, 2007.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. E7-4168 Filed 3-7-07; 8:45 am]
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