[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4070-4071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-1465]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9106-7]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of a Public 
Meeting of the Air Quality Modeling Subcommittee Advisory Council on 
Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a 
public meeting of the Air Quality Modeling Subcommittee (AQMS) of the 
Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council). The AQMS, 
supplemented with additional members from the Council, will review air 
quality modeling results for scenarios with and without EPA's 
regulatory programs implemented under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 
1990. The air quality modeling work has been developed in support of 
the Office of Air and Radiation's Second Section 812 Prospective 
Analysis of the benefits and costs of the Clean Air Act.

DATES: The meeting date is Friday, February 19, 2010, beginning at 8:30 
a.m. and ending no later than 5 p.m. (Eastern Time).

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Science Advisory 
Board Conference Center, 1025 F Street, NW., Suite 3705, Washington, DC 
20004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to 
obtain further information about this meeting may contact Ms. Stephanie 
Sanzone, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science Advisory Board 
Staff Office (1400F), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; by telephone/voice 
mail: (202) 343-9697 or at [email protected]. General 
information about the Council may be found on the Council Web site at 
http://www.epa.gov/advisorycouncilcaa.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 
U.S.C., App. 2 (FACA), notice is hereby given that the Air Quality 
Modeling Subcommittee (AQMS) of the Advisory Council on Clean Air 
Compliance Analysis (Council) will hold a public meeting to evaluate 
draft documents regarding air quality modeling and evaluation of 
modeling performance analyses to support the Second Prospective Section 
812 Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Clean Air Act. The Council was 
established in 1991 pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 
1990 (see 42 U.S.C. 7612) to provide advice, information and 
recommendations on technical and economic aspects of analyses and 
reports EPA prepares on the impacts of the CAA on the public health, 
economy, and environment of the United States. The Council is a Federal 
Advisory Committee chartered under FACA. The AQMS will provide advice 
through the Council and will comply with the provisions of FACA and all 
appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural policies.
    Pursuant to Section 812 of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments 
(CAAA), EPA conducts periodic studies to assess benefits and costs of 
the EPA's regulatory actions under the Clean Air Act. The Council has 
provided advice on an EPA retrospective study

[[Page 4071]]

published in 1997 and an EPA prospective study completed in 1999. EPA 
initiated a second prospective study to evaluate the benefits and costs 
of EPA Clean Air programs for years 1990--2020. The Council has 
previously provided advice on the analytical blueprint for this study. 
EPA's Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) is now nearing completion of 
the analytical work for the second prospective study. At the February 
19, 2010 meeting, the AQMS will review technical documents pertaining 
to modeling of air quality for seven emissions scenarios: a 1990 
baseline simulation; and simulations for 2000, 2010 and 2020 with and 
without the CAAA. The analyses use the Community Multiscale Air Quality 
(CMAQ) model to simulate national and regional-scale (Western U.S. and 
Eastern U.S.) concentrations of ozone and fine particulates 
(PM2.5).
    OAR is requesting that the AQMS review the data choices, 
methodological choices for analyzing the data, and the overall validity 
and utility of the estimated changes in air quality conditions between 
the with-CAAA90 and without-CAAA90 scenarios. The following documents 
are provided to the AQMS: (1) Second Prospective Analysis of Air 
Quality in the U.S. Air Quality Modeling. Draft Report, September 30, 
2008. Prepared by ICF International for James B. DeMocker, EPA Office 
of Policy Analysis and Review, and (2) Evaluation of CMAQ Model 
Performance for the 812 Prospective II Study, Memorandum from Sharon 
Douglas and Tom Myers, ICF International to Jim DeMocker, EPA Office of 
Policy Analysis and Review, November 24, 2009.
    Technical Contacts: The Office of Air and Radiation technical 
contact for the Second Section 812 Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Clean 
Air Act is Mr. Jim DeMocker at (202) 564-1673 or [email protected].
    Availability of Meeting Materials: EPA draft documents provided to 
the AQMS are available at http://www.epa.gov/oar/sect812/prospective2.html.
    The meeting agenda for February 19, 2010 and any background 
materials will be posted on the SAB Web site (http://www.epa.gov/advisorycouncilcaa) prior to the meeting.
    Procedures for Providing Public Input: Interested members of the 
public may submit relevant written or oral information for the AQMS to 
consider on the topics of this advisory activity and/or the group 
conducting the activity. Oral Statements: In general, individuals or 
groups requesting an oral presentation at a public meeting will be 
limited to five minutes per speaker, with no more than one hour for all 
speakers. Interested parties should contact Ms. Sanzone at the contact 
information provided above by February 10, 2010, to be placed on the 
public speaker list for the February 19, 2010 meeting. Written 
Statements: Written statements should be received in the SAB Staff 
Office by February 10, 2010, so that the information may be made 
available to the AQMS for their consideration prior to the meeting. 
Written statements should be supplied to Ms. Sanzone in the following 
formats: One hard copy with original signature and one electronic copy 
via e-mail (acceptable file format: Adobe Acrobat PDF, MS Word, 
WordPerfect, MS PowerPoint, or Rich Text files). Submitters are asked 
to provide electronic versions of each document submitted with and 
without signatures, because the SAB Staff Office does not publish 
documents with signatures on its Web sites.
    Accessibility: For information on access or services for 
individuals with disabilities, please contact Ms. Sanzone at (202) 343-
9697, or via e-mail at [email protected], preferably at least 
ten (10) days prior to the meeting, to give EPA as much time as 
possible to process your request.

    Dated: January 19, 2010.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-1465 Filed 1-25-10; 8:45 am]
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