[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 24, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77673-77674]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-30708]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9904-64-OA]


Notification of a Public Meeting of the Environmental Justice 
Technical Guidance Review Panel

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a 
public meeting of the SAB Environmental Justice Technical Guidance 
Review Panel to provide advice through the Chartered SAB on the 
agency's Draft Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice 
in Regulatory Analysis (May 1, 2013).

DATES: The Environmental Justice Technical Guidance (EJTG) Review Panel 
public meeting will be held on Thursday January 30, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. 
to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) and on Friday January 31, 2014 from 9:00 
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at The Renaissance Arlington 
Capitol View Hotel, 2800 South Potomac Avenue, Arlington, Virginia 
22202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public who wants 
further information concerning the public meeting may contact Dr. Sue 
Shallal, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), via telephone at (202) 564-
2057 or email at [email protected]. General information concerning 
the SAB can be found on the EPA Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SAB was established pursuant to the 
Environmental Research, Development, and Demonstration Authorization 
Act (ERDDAA), codified at 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 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. Pursuant 
to FACA and EPA policy, notice is hereby given that the SAB 
Environmental Justice Technical Guidance Review Panel will hold a 
public meeting to discuss the agency's draft technical document that 
provides information on how to consider environmental justice in 
regulatory analysis. This SAB panel will provide advice to the 
Administrator through the chartered SAB.
    Background: The EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics 
along with the Office of Environmental Justice has requested that the 
SAB peer review their Draft Technical Guidance for Assessing 
Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis (May 1, 2013). The EPA 
released the draft technical guidance for public comment on May 9, 2013 
(see https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/05/09/2013-11165/technical-guidance-for-assessing-environmental-justice-in-regulatory-analysis). The deadline for submitting public comments to the agency 
was September 6, 2013. Background on this SAB review, including the 
process for forming this review panel was provided in a Federal

[[Page 77674]]

Register Notice published on June 4, 2013 (Volume 78 FR 107; 33416-
33417). The SAB Panel met on June 19-20, 2013 to learn about the 
development of the technical guidance, how the EPA currently assesses 
environmental justice (EJ) concerns and to provide their initial 
impressions. The purpose of this upcoming meeting is for the SAB Panel 
to learn about the comments submitted by the public to the agency and 
to develop draft responses to the charge questions. Additional 
information about this advisory activity can be found at the following 
URL: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/EJ%20Technical%20Guidance?OpenDocument. A meeting agenda and other 
meeting materials will be posted at the above noted URL prior to the 
meeting.
    Technical Contacts: Any technical questions concerning EPA's draft 
technical document should be directed to Dr. Kelly Maguire at (202) 
566-2273 or by email at [email protected].
    Availability of Meeting Materials: Prior to the meeting, the review 
documents, agenda and other materials will be accessible through the 
calendar link on the blue navigation bar at http://www.epa.gov/sab/.
    Procedures for Providing Public Input: Public comment for 
consideration by EPA's federal advisory committees and panels has a 
different purpose from public comment provided to EPA program offices. 
Therefore, the process for submitting comments to a federal advisory 
committee is different from the process used to submit comments to an 
EPA program office. Federal advisory committees and panels, including 
scientific advisory committees, provide independent advice to the EPA. 
Interested members of the public may submit relevant written or oral 
information on the topic of this advisory activity, and/or the group 
conducting the activity, for the SAB to consider during the advisory 
process. Input from the public to the SAB will have the most impact if 
it provides specific scientific or technical information or analysis 
for SAB committees to consider or if it relates to the clarity or 
accuracy of the technical information. Members of the public wishing to 
provide comment should contact the DFO directly. Oral Statements: In 
general, individuals or groups requesting an oral presentation at a 
public meeting will be limited to five minutes. Interested parties 
should contact Dr. Sue Shallal, DFO, in writing (preferably via email) 
at the contact information noted above by January 23, 2014, to be 
placed on the list of public speakers for the meeting. Written 
Statements: Written statements should be supplied to the DFO via email 
at the contact information noted above by January 23, 2014 for the 
meeting so that the information may be made available to the Committee 
members for their consideration. Written statements should be supplied 
in one of the following electronic formats: Adobe Acrobat PDF, MS Word, 
MS PowerPoint, or Rich Text files in IBM-PC/Windows 98/2000/XP format. 
It is the SAB Staff Office general policy to post written comments on 
the Web page for the advisory meeting or teleconference. Submitters are 
requested to provide an unsigned version of each document because the 
SAB Staff Office does not publish documents with signatures on its Web 
sites. Members of the public should be aware that their personal 
contact information, if included in any written comments, may be posted 
to the SAB Web site. Copyrighted material will not be posted without 
explicit permission of the copyright holder.
    Accessibility: For information on access or services for 
individuals with disabilities, please contact Dr. Sue Shallal at (202) 
564-2057 or [email protected]. To request accommodation of a 
disability, please contact Dr. Shallal preferably at least ten days 
prior to the meeting to give EPA as much time as possible to process 
your request.

    Dated: December 17, 2013.
Thomas H. Brennan,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2013-30708 Filed 12-23-13; 8:45 am]
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