[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 107 (Friday, June 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32202-32203]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-13828]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[[FRL-9315-5]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office Request for Additional 
Nominations for the SAB Environmental Justice Technical Review Panel(s)

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 additional experts to review the 
Agency's proposed technical document(s) which consider environmental 
justice concerns.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by June 24, 2011 per 
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Any member of the public wishing further 
information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations may 
contact Dr. Suhair Shallal, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB Staff 
Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-2057; by fax at (202) 565-
2098 or via e-mail at [email protected]. General information 
concerning the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found at the EPA SAB 
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: The SAB was established pursuant to the Environmental 
Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization Act (ERDAA), 
codified at 42 U.S.C. 4365, to provide independent scientific and 
technical advice to the Administrator. The SAB is a Federal Advisory 
Committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 
U.S.C., App. 2. The SAB will comply with the provisions of FACA and all 
appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural policies.
    The SAB published a Federal Register notice (Vol. 76, Number 30, 
Pages 8366-8367) on February 14, 2011 seeking nominations for a SAB 
panel to review the Agency's environmental justice technical documents. 
The SAB is now seeking to augment the list of potential candidates to 
include additional experts to review the Agency's environmental justice 
screening tool(s).
    EPA is developing several tools to help identify communities of 
potential environmental justice (EJ) concern. These EJ screening tools 
use a variety of demographic and environmental variables, combined in 
different ways. EPA has requested that the SAB provide advice on 
establishing a method for weighting the environmental factors used in 
these tools.
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is seeking additional 
nominations of nationally and internationally recognized experts with 
experience in the following disciplines: risk assessment (particularly 
comparative risk and risk ranking); decision analysis; economics and 
environmental science, specifically in drinking water and groundwater 
human health effects, particulate matter, ozone and toxic air 
pollutants (including diesel particulate matter); lead in paint, 
household dust and other locations, proximity to active and inactive 
hazardous waste sites, industrial and other facilities; and proximity 
to highways. Additional experts will be considered along with those 
currently identified on the list of candidates (see http://
yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/02ad90b136fc21ef85256eba00436459/
0F7D1A0D7D15001B8525783000673AC3/$File/memo%20and%20bio-%20EJT.pdf).
    Availability of the Review Materials: The review materials will be 
made available on the SAB Web site. For questions concerning the review 
materials, please contact Bridgid Curry at (202) 565-2567, or 
[email protected].
    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

[[Page 32203]]

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'' http://www.epa.gov/sab 
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 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 SAB Web site, should 
contact Dr. Suhair Shallal, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. 
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than June 
24, 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 SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. 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 SAB EJT 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: May 26, 2011.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2011-13828 Filed 6-2-11; 8:45 am]
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