[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 39 (Monday, February 28, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10896-10897]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4374]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9270-9]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations; 
CASAC Mercury Review Panel

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is 
requesting public nominations of experts to serve on the Clean Air 
Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) panel to conduct an independent 
review of EPA's Mercury Technical Support Document.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by March 21, 2011 per 
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations 
may contact Dr. Angela Nugent, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB 
Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-2188; by fax at 
(202) 565-2098 or via e-mail at [email protected]. General 
information concerning the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee 
can be found at the EPA CASAC Web site at http://www.epa.gov/casac.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: The CASAC was established pursuant to the Clean Air Act 
(CAA) Amendments of 1977, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7409D(d)(2), to provide 
advice, information, and recommendations to the Administrator on the 
scientific and technical aspects of issues related to the criteria for 
air quality standards, research related to air quality, sources of air 
pollution, and the strategies to attain and maintain air quality 
standards and to prevent significant deterioration of air quality. The 
CASAC is a Federal Advisory Committee chartered under the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C., App. 2.
    EPA is considering regulating the emissions of hazardous air 
pollutants (HAPs) released from coal-burning electric generating units 
in the United States (U.S. EGUs) under Section 112(n)(1)(A) of the 
Clean Air Act (CAA). This regulation may potentially use a Maximally 
Achievable Control Device (MACT) approach to set a technology-based 
standard for reducing HAP emissions. EPA is developing a draft risk 
assessment for mercury, entitled Technical Support Document: National-
Scale Mercury Risk Assessment. This draft assessment considers the 
nature and magnitude of the potential risk to public health posed by 
current U.S. EGU mercury emissions and the nature and magnitude of the 
potential risk posed by U.S. EGU mercury emissions in the future, once 
all anticipated CAA-related regulations potentially reducing mercury 
from U.S. EGUs are in place. EPA's Office of Air and Radiation has 
requested CASAC review of this draft document.
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is seeking 
nominations of nationally and internationally recognized experts with 
research experience and expertise in the following disciplines, 
particularly related to mercury: atmospheric fate, transport and 
modeling; aquatic fate, transport and modeling; bioaccumulation; human 
exposure; epidemiology; toxicology, including reproductive and 
neurotoxicology, biostatistics, and risk assessment.
    EPA Contact for Background Information Pertaining to This Review: 
For questions concerning the development of EPA's mercury assessment, 
please contact Dr. Zachary Pekar at (919) 541-3704 or pekar.zachary 
@epa.gov.
    Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested 
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals in the areas 
of expertise described above for possible service on this expert ad hoc 
Panel. 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 CASAC Web site. The instructions can be accessed 
through the ``Nomination of Experts'' link on the blue navigational bar 
on the CASAC Web site at http://www.epa.gov/casac. 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 vita; sources of recent grant and/or contract 
support; 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 CASAC Web site, should 
contact Dr. Angela Nugent, DFO, as indicated above

[[Page 10897]]

in this notice. Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no 
later than March 21, 2011. EPA values and welcomes diversity. In an 
effort to obtain nominations of diverse candidates, EPA encourages 
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 this Federal Register notice, and additional experts 
identified by the SAB Staff, will be posted in a List of Candidates on 
the CASAC Web site at http://www.epa.gov/casac. Public comments on this 
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 
the CASAC Mercury Technical Support Document Review Panel, the SAB 
Staff Office will consider public comments on the List of candidates, 
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; and (e) skills working in committees, subcommittees and 
advisory panels; and, for the Panel as a whole, (f) diversity of 
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 at 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: February 22, 2011.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2011-4374 Filed 2-25-11; 8:45 am]
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