[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 244 (Tuesday, December 21, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80048-80049]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31999]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9241-5 ]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Notification of a Public 
Meeting of the Environmental Economics Advisory Committee Augmented for 
Valuing Mortality Risk Reductions

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory 
Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public meeting of the 
Environmental Economics Advisory Committee Augmented for Mortality Risk 
Valuation to conduct a review of EPA's White Paper ``Valuing Mortality 
Risk Reduction for Environmental Policy'' (December 10, 2010).

DATES: The public meeting will be held on Thursday, January 20, 2011 
from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Eastern Time) and Friday, January 21, 2011 
from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. (Eastern Time).

[[Page 80049]]


ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the Madison Hotel, 1177 
15th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public who wants 
further information concerning the meeting may contact Dr. Holly 
Stallworth, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science Advisory 
Board (1400R), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1300 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; via telephone/voice mail (202) 564-
2073; fax (202) 565-2098; or e-mail at [email protected]. 
General information concerning the SAB can be found on the EPA Web site 
at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: Pursuant to the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C., App., notice is hereby 
given that the SAB Environmental Economics Advisory Committee (EEAC) 
Augmented for Mortality Risk Valuation will hold a public meeting to 
discuss the valuation of mortality risk reduction for regulatory 
analysis. The SAB was established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 4365 to provide 
independent scientific and technical advice to the Administrator on the 
technical basis for Agency positions and regulations. The SAB is a 
Federal Advisory Committee chartered under FACA. The SAB will comply 
with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office 
procedural policies.
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses a value of 
statistical life (VSL) to express the benefits of mortality risk 
reductions in monetary terms for use in benefit cost analyses of its 
rules and regulations. EPA has used the same central default value 
(adjusted for inflation) in its primary analyses since 1999 when the 
Agency updated its Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses (2000). 
Prior to the release of the Guidelines, EPA sought advice from the 
Science Advisory Board's Environmental Economics Advisory Committee 
(EEAC) on the appropriateness of this estimate and its derivation. In 
2000, EPA also requested advice from the SAB EEAC on the 
appropriateness of making adjustments to VSL estimates to capture risk 
and population characteristics associated with fatal cancer risks. The 
SAB responded with the report, ``An SAB Report on EPA's White Paper 
Valuing the Benefits of Fatal Cancer Risk Reduction'' (EPA-SAB-EEAC-00-
010), available on the SAB Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/
SABPRODUCT.NSF/41334524148BCCD6852571A700516498/$File/eeacf013.pdf.
    In addition, as part of the recent process for updating its 
guidance on the conduct of benefit cost analysis, EPA embarked on a 
series of meetings with the SAB-EEAC on issues related to mortality 
risk valuation. In 2004, the SAB EEAC held a consultation to discuss 
the robustness of estimates from the mortality risk valuation 
literature. In 2006, the SAB EEAC reviewed an EPA paper on the 
application of meta-analysis techniques to deriving estimates for the 
value of mortality risk reduction as well as a paper on appropriate and 
available methods for valuing mortality risk reductions when affected 
populations have relatively short remaining life expectancy. The ``SAB 
Advisory on EPA's Issues in Valuing Mortality Risk Reduction'' (EPA-
SAB-08-001) may be found at: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/
SABPRODUCT.NSF/4128007E7876B8F0852573760058A978/$File/sab-08-001.pdf.
    EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics has requested a 
review of a White Paper that highlights additional key topics related 
to the valuation of mortality risks reductions. On July 8, 2009 in 74 
FR 32607-32608, the SAB Staff Office solicited nominations of experts 
to augment the EEAC. Thus, for the January 20-21, 2011 meeting, EEAC 
will be joined by additional experts to review EPA's White Paper. Key 
issues described in the white paper include:

--Terminology: Replacing the term ``Value of Statistical Life,'' which 
has often been misunderstood as a measure of the value of individual 
lives, with the term ``Value of Mortality Risk Reductions'' (VMR). This 
change in terminology should help to avoid some of the confusion 
surrounding the interpretation of the VSL. It would not affect the 
results of the analysis itself, but rather how the benefits of reduced 
risks are reported and described.
--Cancer Differential: Taking into account potential differences in how 
much people are willing to pay for reductions in their risks of dying 
from cancer relative to other causes when estimating the benefits of 
policies that reduce exposure to cancer-causing pollutants.
--Altruistic Effects: Taking into account potential differences in 
individuals' willingness to pay for ``public'' risk reductions that may 
affect many people (such as reductions of pollution to public drinking 
water) relative to their willingness to pay for ``private'' risk 
reductions that only affect the individual (such as choosing to install 
a water filter in one's home). Many of the published estimates of 
willingness to pay are for private risk reductions, but since EPA 
regulations generally result in ``public'' risk reductions, accounting 
for these differences when estimating benefits could be important.

    Technical Contacts: Any questions concerning EPA's White Paper 
should be directed to Dr. Nathalie Simon, NCEE, at (202) 566-2347 or 
[email protected].
    Availability of Meeting Materials: EPA's White Paper may be found 
posted at http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eerm.nsf/vwAN/EE-0563-1.pdf/
$file/ EE-0563-1.pdf. A meeting agenda, charge questions, a roster for 
the EEAC Augmented for Mortality Risk Valuation and other materials for 
the meeting will be placed on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.
    Procedures for Providing Public Input: Interested members of the 
public may submit relevant written or oral information for 
consideration on the topics included in this advisory activity. Oral 
Statements: To be placed on the public speaker list for the January 20-
21, 2011 meeting, interested parties should notify Dr. Holly 
Stallworth, DFO, by e-mail no later than January 14, 2011. Individuals 
making oral statements will be limited to three minutes per speaker. 
Written Statements: Written statements for the meeting should be 
received in the SAB Staff Office by January 14, 2011 so that the 
information may be made available to the SAB Panel for its 
consideration prior to this meeting. Written statements should be 
supplied to the DFO via e-mail (acceptable file format: Adobe Acrobat 
PDF, MS Word, WordPerfect, MS PowerPoint, or Rich Text files in IBM-PC/
Windows 98/2000/XP format).
    Accessibility: For information on access or services for 
individuals with disabilities, please contact Dr. Stallworth at the 
phone number or e-mail address noted above, preferably at least ten 
days prior to the meeting, to give EPA as much time as possible to 
process your request.

    Dated: December 15, 2010.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
 Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-31999 Filed 12-20-10; 8:45 am]
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