[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 73 (Friday, April 16, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19969-19971]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-8761]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9138-2]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of a Public 
Meeting of the 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 Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis 
(Council). The Council will conduct quality reviews of three 
subcommittee reports and review draft chapters of the EPA Office of Air 
and Radiation's Second Section 812 Prospective Analysis of the benefits 
and costs of the Clean Air Act.

DATES: The meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 and Wednesday, 
May 5, 2010, beginning at 8:30 a.m. and ending no later than 5 p.m. 
(Eastern Time), each day.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Science Advisory 
Board

[[Page 19970]]

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 (FACA), 
5 U.S.C., App. 2, notice is hereby given that the Advisory Council on 
Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council) will hold a public meeting to 
review Council subcommittee draft reports and to review draft EPA 
documents prepared for the Second Section 812 Prospective 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 Council, its subcommittees (Air Quality 
Modeling Subcommittee, Health Effects Subcommittee, and Ecological 
Effects Subcommittee) 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 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, and has requested the Council's 
review of the draft study.
    Quality Review: The Council will conduct quality review of three 
Council Subcommittee reports prepared in support of the Office of Air 
and Radiation's Second Section 812 Prospective Study: (1) Air Quality 
Modeling Subcommittee (AQMS) draft report, Review of Air Quality 
Modeling for the Second Section 812 Prospective Study of Benefits and 
Costs of the Clean Air Act. The AQMS held meetings on February 19 and 
March 15, 2010 to 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). The 
CMAQ outputs are adjusted using the Modeled Attainment Test Software 
(MATS), and projected differences in ambient concentrations are inputs 
to the analysis of benefits of the CAAA to human health, welfare, and 
the environment. Background information on this advisory activity is 
available on the Council Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/2nd%20Prospective%20812%20-%20AQMS?OpenDocument; (2) Health Effects Subcommittee (HES) draft 
report, Review of EPA's DRAFT Health Benefits of the Second Section 812 
Prospective Study of the Clean Air Act. The Subcommittee held meetings 
on December 15-16, 2009 and March 2, 2010 to review technical 
assessments of health benefits and uncertainty analyses associated with 
air quality scenarios, including decreases in ambient ozone and 
particulate matter (PM) concentrations. Background information on this 
advisory activity is available on the Council Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/812%20-%202nd%20Prospective%20-%20Health?OpenDocument; and (3) Ecological 
Effects Subcommittee (EES) draft report, Review of Ecological Effects 
of Air Pollutants for the Second Section 812 Prospective Study of 
Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act. The Subcommittee met on March 
9-10, 2010 to review draft materials that characterize ecological 
effects associated with decreases in air pollutants, primarily acidic 
deposition and tropospheric ozone. The materials included a review of 
scientific literature on the ecological effects of air pollutants 
regulated by the CAAA, case studies on benefits of the CAAA for 
recreational fishing and the timber industry in the Adirondack Region 
of New York State, and an estimation of physical benefits of the air 
quality scenarios for ozone on agriculture and commercial forestry 
productivity. Background information on this advisory activity is 
available on the Council Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/2nd%20Prospective%20812%20-%20EES?OpenDocument.
    Council Review of Draft Section 812 Study. The Council will review 
draft chapters from the integrated report, Second Section 812 
Prospective Study of the Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act. OAR 
is requesting that the Council review (1) the data choices; (2) 
methodological choices for analyzing the data; and (3) the overall 
validity and utility of the estimated direct costs and benefits of 
changes in air quality conditions between the with-CAAA90 and without-
CAAA90 scenarios. Background information on this advisory activity is 
available on the Council Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/2nd%20Prospective%20812%20Study?OpenDocument.
    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: Draft EPA documents provided to 
the Council are available at http://www.epa.gov/oar/sect812/prospective2.html. The meeting agenda for May 4-5, 2010 and any 
background materials, including the draft subcommittee reports, will be 
posted on the Council 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 information on the group conducting 
the activity or written or oral information for the Council to consider 
on the topics of this advisory 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 April 27, 2010, to 
be placed on the public speaker list for the May 4-5, 2010 meeting. 
Written Statements: Written statements should be received in the SAB 
Staff Office by April 27, 2010, so that the information may be made 
available to the Council for their consideration prior to the meeting. 
Written statements should be supplied

[[Page 19971]]

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: April 9, 2010.
Vanessa T. Vu,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-8761 Filed 4-15-10; 8:45 am]
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