[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 52 (Friday, March 16, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15753-15754]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6422]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9648-8]


Request for Nominations of Experts for a Science Advisory Board 
Panel To Review EPA's Web-Based Report on the Environment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office requests 
public nominations of technical experts to form an SAB panel to review 
the Agency's Web-based Report on the Environment.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by April 6, 2012 per the 
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Any member of the public wishing further 
information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations may 
contact Dr. Thomas Armitage, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB 
Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-2155, by fax at 
(202) 565-2098, or via email at [email protected]. General 
information concerning the EPA SAB can be found at the EPA SAB Web site 
at www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The SAB (42 U.S.C. 4365) is a chartered Federal Advisory Committee 
that provides independent scientific and technical peer review, advice, 
consultation, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the 
technical basis for EPA actions. As a Federal Advisory Committee, the 
SAB conducts business in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee 
Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. 2) and related regulations. The SAB will 
comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office 
procedural policies.
    EPA's Web-based Report on the Environment (ROE) has been developed 
to provide a comprehensive online source of scientific indicators 
describing the condition of and trends in the nation's environment and 
human health. The ROE indicators are numerical values derived from 
actual measurements of human health and ecological condition over 
specified geographic areas of the United States. The ROE indicators are 
intended to inform strategic planning, priority setting, and decision 
making across EPA and provide information for the public on the state 
of the environment.
    In 2004 and 2007, the SAB reviewed two draft versions of EPA's ROE. 
The findings and recommendations of those SAB reviews are available on 
the SAB Web site at www.epa.gov/sab (see reports EPA-SAB-05-004 and 
EPA-SAB-08-007). The ROE was subsequently published by EPA in 2008, and 
in 2009 SAB members provided additional advice on continued development 
of future versions of the ROE (see report EPA-SAB-09-017). Since the 
2008 publication of the ROE, EPA has maintained and updated the ROE 
indicators online at www.epa.gov/roe. EPA is developing a new user-
friendly and interactive Web site to provide improved access to the 
data and information in the ROE for a variety of audiences. EPA has 
also addressed recommendations from previous SAB reviews in order to 
develop a more robust environmental reporting program. Specifically, 
EPA has developed: (1) Conceptual frameworks, based on a sustainability 
paradigm, to illustrate connections among ROE indicators and Agency 
programs, (2) new and revised ROE indicators, including sustainability 
indicators that incorporate economic data, and (3) statistical 
information to address indicator variability and uncertainty. EPA has 
asked the SAB to review the scientific and technical merit of this work 
to improve the ROE. In response to EPA's request, the SAB Staff Office 
will form an expert panel to conduct the review.

Availability of the Review Materials

    SAB review materials will be made available via EPA's Web site and 
will consist of a newly designed ROE Web site and accompanying issue 
papers. All new ROE developments described above (e.g., conceptual 
frameworks, new and revised indicators, and statistical data) will be 
presented online rather than in a traditional hard copy report. For 
information concerning the ROE, please contact Ms. Madalene Stevens, 
National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and 
Development, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Mail Code 8601-P, 
Washington, DC 20460, phone (703) 347-8655 or at 
[email protected].

Request for Nominations

    The SAB Staff Office requests nominations of recognized experts 
from a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines with 
experience and expertise in: designing environmental and human health 
indicators, and evaluating and/or communicating indicator information 
and data at regional or national scales. Nominations of experts in 
various disciplines are requested including: (a) Environmental 
scientists and engineers with knowledge of the sources, fate, and 
transport of air pollutants and outdoor and indoor air quality 
indicators; (b) aquatic biologists, ecologists, hydrologists, chemists, 
oceanographers and microbiologists with expertise in assessing the 
condition of surface water, ground water, drinking water, wetlands, 
coastal waters, and/or recreational waters; (c) environmental 
scientists, ecologists, soil scientists, and environmental engineers 
with expertise in the use of indicators (e.g., land cover, land use, 
wastes on land, chemicals used on land, and contaminated land) to 
assess the condition of land; (d) health scientists (e.g., in the 
fields of public health, epidemiology, and risk assessment) with 
expertise in assessing human exposure to environmental pollutants, 
health risks associated with environmental pollutants, and/or 
indicators for assessing human health condition; (e) ecologists with 
expertise in the use of indicators to assess the ecological effects of 
exposure to pollutants and the condition of whole ecosystems; (f) 
statisticians with expertise in analysis of environmental information 
to determine the status of and trends in environmental condition; (g) 
environmental economists with knowledge of sustainability analysis; (h) 
experts from any of the above disciplines with knowledge of 
sustainability science and sustainability indicators; and (i) 
communication and information scientists with expertise in using and/or 
communicating environmental indicator information to inform planning 
and decision making.

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 panel. Nominations should be submitted in 
electronic format (preferred over hard copy) following the instructions 
for ``Nominating Experts to Advisory Panels

[[Page 15754]]

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 at the SAB 
Web site http://www.epa.gov/sab. To receive full consideration, 
nominations should include all of the information requested below.
    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 resume or 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. Thomas Armitage, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. 
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than April 
6, 2012. 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 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 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 forming this expert 
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; (e) skills working in committees, 
subcommittees and advisory panels; and (f) for the Panel as a whole, 
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 a 
person's public responsibilities (which include 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: March 9, 2012.
Thomas H. Brennan,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2012-6422 Filed 3-15-12; 8:45 am]
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