[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 110 (Wednesday, June 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32769-32770]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-13858]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9160-6]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations of 
Experts to Provide Scientific and Technical Advice Related to the Gulf 
of Mexico Oil Spill

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of request for nominations.

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SUMMARY: The Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is requesting 
public nominations of experts to serve on potential workgroups or 
panels to advise the Agency on scientific and technical issues related 
to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by June 24, 2010 per 
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact 
Ms. Stephanie Sanzone, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science 
Advisory Board (1400F), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20460; via telephone/voice mail (202) 343-9697; by fax at (202) 233-
0643; or via e-mail at [email protected]. General information 
concerning the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found on the EPA SAB 
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    The SAB was established by 42 U.S.C. 4365 to provide independent 
scientific and technical advice, consultation, and recommendations to 
the EPA Administrator on the technical basis for Agency positions and 
regulations. As announced previously Federal Register, May 19, 2010, 
Volume 75, Number 96, Page 28009), the SAB may be asked to provide 
advice on a range of scientific and technical issues related to the 
Gulf of Mexico oil spill. To expand the pool of experts available to 
serve as SAB consultants, the SAB Staff Office is seeking public 
nominations of nationally recognized experts for potential service on 
SAB workgroups, panels or committees to provide advice on this critical 
matter. The advice will assist the Agency in developing and 
implementing timely and scientifically appropriate responses to oil 
spill contamination in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Gulf Coast. All 
SAB advisory activities generally comply with the provisions of the 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). As announced previously (Federal 
Register, May 19, 2010, Volume 75, Number 96, Page 28009), critical 
mission and schedule requirements may preclude the full 15 days notice 
in the Federal Register prior to advisory meetings, pursuant to the 
final rule on Federal Advisory Committee Management codified at 41 CFR 
102-3.150. However, information on Gulf of Mexico oil spill meetings, 
as well as experts selected for service will be posted on the SAB Web 
site at http://www.epa.gov/sab as they are available. Nominees will be 
invited to serve based on: Scientific and technical expertise, 
knowledge, and experience; availability and willingness to serve; 
absence of financial conflicts of interest; and scientific credibility 
and impartiality.
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is requesting 
nominations of nationally and internationally recognized experts with 
demonstrated research or operational experience assessing the 
environmental impacts and associated mitigation of impacts due to oil 
spills, oil products, oil constituents, and dispersants in air and 
water (including wetlands) media. Appropriate expertise may include one 
or more of the following disciplines: Chemistry; fate, transport and 
exposure assessment; toxicology; public health; ecology; ecotoxicology; 
risk assessment; engineering; and economics.
    Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested 
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals for possible 
service in the areas of expertise described above. Self-nominations are 
encouraged. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format (which 
is preferred over hard copy) following the instructions for 
``Nominating Experts to Advisory Panels and Ad Hoc Committees Being 
Formed'' provided on the SAB Web site. The instructions can be accessed 
through the ``Nomination of Experts'' link on the blue navigational bar 
on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. To receive full 
consideration, nominations should include all of the information 
requested.
    EPA's SAB Staff Office 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 vitae; sources of recent grants and/or contracts; 
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.
    Persons having questions about the nomination procedures, or who 
are unable to submit nominations through the SAB Web site, should 
contact Ms. Sanzone, DFO as indicated above in this notice. Nominations 
should be submitted in time to arrive no later than June 24, 2010. EPA 
values and welcomes diversity. In an effort to obtain nominations of 
diverse candidates, EPA encourages

[[Page 32770]]

nominations of women and men of all racial and ethnic groups.
    The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of nominations. 
The names and biosketches 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 List of Candidates will 
be accepted for 15 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, may be influenced by work history and affiliation), and the 
collective breadth of experience to adequately address the charge. In 
establishing workgroups, the SAB Staff Office will consider information 
provided by the candidates themselves, and background information 
independently gathered by the SAB Staff Office. Selection 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; (e) 
skills working in advisory committees and panels for the Panel as a 
whole, and (f) diversity of and balance among scientific expertise and 
viewpoints.
    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: June 1, 2010.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-13858 Filed 6-8-10; 8:45 am]
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