[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 59 (Thursday, March 27, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17147-17149]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06830]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9908-84-OA]


Request for Nominations for the Clean Air Scientific Advisory 
Committee (CASAC) Review Panel for Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 17148]]

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) 
Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is seeking nominations of 
nationally recognized experts for consideration for membership on a new 
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Review Panel on 
scientific assessments to support EPA's decisions on secondary 
(welfare-based) air quality standards for oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX) and oxides of sulfur (SOX).

DATES: New nominations should be submitted by April 17, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact 
Dr. Holly Stallworth, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science 
Advisory Board (1400R), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460; via telephone/voice 
mail: (202) 564-2073 or email at [email protected]. General 
information concerning the CASAC can be found on the EPA Web site at: 
http://www.epa.gov/casac.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CASAC was established pursuant to the 
Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 1977, codified at 42 U.S.C. 
7409(d)(2), to review air quality criteria and NAAQS and recommend any 
new NAAQS and revisions of existing criteria and NAAQS as may be 
appropriate. The CASAC shall also 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 of 
adverse effects which may result from various strategies to attain and 
maintain air quality standards. The CASAC is a Federal Advisory 
Committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 
U.S.C., App. 2. Section 109(d)(1) of the CAA requires that the Agency 
periodically review and revise, as appropriate, the air quality 
criteria and the NAAQS for the six ``criteria'' air pollutants, 
including NOX and SOX. EPA is currently preparing 
to review the secondary (welfare-based) air quality criteria for 
NOX and SOX.
    The SAB Staff Office is establishing a panel of experts to augment 
the chartered CASAC to provide EPA advice on its scientific assessments 
on this topic. The CASAC and the CASAC NOX and 
SOX Secondary Review Panel will comply with the provisions 
of FACA and all appropriate EPA and SAB Staff Office procedural 
policies.
    This Federal Register notice seeks nominations of nationally-
recognized experts regarding NOX and SOX in one 
or more of the following disciplines. (a) Ecological Effects. Expertise 
in evaluation of the effects of exposure to gas-phase oxides of 
nitrogen and sulfur, nitrogen deposition and acidification caused by 
deposition of nitrogen and sulfur, on agricultural crops and natural 
ecosystems and their components, both flora and fauna, ranging from 
biochemical/sub-cellular effects on organisms to increasingly more 
complex levels of ecosystem organization and biodiversity. Appropriate 
expertise disciplines include: aquatic chemistry; aquatic ecology/
biology; limnology; terrestrial ecology; forest ecology; grassland 
ecology; rangeland ecology; terrestrial/aquatic biogeochemistry; marine 
and estuarine ecology; landscape ecology; terrestrial/aquatic nutrient 
cycling; and terrestrial/aquatic wildlife biology and soil chemistry. 
(b) Other Welfare Effects. Expertise in the evaluation of the effects 
of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur and acid deposition on public welfare 
including damage to materials, and the interactions of these pollutants 
to affect global climate conditions. (c) Ecosystem Exposure and Risk 
Assessment/Modeling. Expertise in terrestrial and aquatic or 
biogeochemical modeling across a range of scales from local watershed 
to landscape to continental, static and dynamic ecosystem response 
models, integrated assessment models, identification of bio-indicators 
useful for tracking ecosystem change, methods and approaches available 
to estimate total loadings of sulfur and nitrogen species to 
ecosystems, and the current state of critical loads science and 
application. Expertise in modeling sensitivity of ecosystems to climate 
change as it relates to effects from nitrogen and sulfur oxides 
exposure. (d) Ecosystem services and resource valuation. Expertise in 
connecting ecological effects to incremental changes in provision of 
various final ecosystem services, both aquatic and terrestrial and 
subsequent incremental changes in the value of those services monetary 
or nonmonetary. (e) Atmospheric Science. Expertise in physical and 
chemical properties of oxides of nitrogen, reduced and organic forms of 
nitrogen, and oxides of sulfur; atmospheric processes involved in their 
formation and transport on urban to global scales; transformation of 
these pollutants in the atmosphere; and movement of the pollutants 
between media through deposition and other such mechanisms. Also, 
expertise in the evaluation of natural and anthropogenic sources and 
emissions of oxides of nitrogen and sulfur; pertinent monitoring or 
measurement methods for the atmospheric concentration and deposition of 
these pollutants; and spatial and temporal trends in their atmospheric 
concentrations and deposition.
    Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested 
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals for 
consideration of membership on the CASAC Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur 
Secondary Review Panel in the areas of expertise described above. 
Nominations should be submitted in electronic format through the EPA 
Web site: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/participatepanelformation?OpenDocument. 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 vitae; 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. Stallworth as noted above. Nominations should be submitted 
in time to arrive no later than April 17, 2014. 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 for 
the NOX and SOX Secondary Review Panel on the SAB 
Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstractivites/NOx%20SOx%20Secondary%20NAAQS%20Review?OpenDocument. 
Public comments on the 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

[[Page 17149]]

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 
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 loss of impartiality; (e) skills 
working in committees, subcommittees and advisory panels; and, (f) for 
the panel as a whole, diversity of expertise and scientific points of 
view.
    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 loss of impartiality, as defined by federal 
regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded from the following 
Web address http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/ethics?OpenDocument. The EPA provides information about ethics for 
advisory members at the following Web address: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/ethics?OpenDocument.
    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 18, 2014.
Thomas H. Brennan,
 Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-06830 Filed 3-26-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P