[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 83 (Wednesday, April 30, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24425-24427]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-09902]


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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9910-27-OA]


Notification of a Request for Nominations of Experts for a 
Science Advisory Board Panel on Economy-Wide Modeling

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office requests 
public nominations of scientific experts to form an SAB panel to 
provide advice through the chartered SAB on the appropriate role of 
economy-wide modeling of the costs and benefits of air regulations in 
informing the regulatory process.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by May 21, 2014 per the 
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations 
may contact Dr. Holly Stallworth, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB 
Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-2073 or via email at 
[email protected]. General information concerning the EPA SAB 
can be found at the EPA SAB Web site at http://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

[[Page 24426]]

provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural 
policies.
    On February 5, 2014, the EPA's National Center for Environmental 
Economics (NCEE) and the Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) announced 
(79 FR 6899--6900) that they had developed a draft ``analytic 
blueprint'' of materials on the technical merits and challenges of 
using economy-wide models to evaluate the social costs, benefits and 
economic impacts associated with EPA's air regulations. These 
materials, along with draft charge questions for the SAB and public 
comments can be found in the docket at http://www.regulations.gov under 
the docket identification, EPA-HQ-OA-2014-0129.
    The EPA has requested that the SAB provide review of the EPA's 
modeling and ability to measure full regulatory impacts and to make 
recommendations on the use of economy-wide modeling frameworks to 
characterize the social costs, benefits, and economic impacts of air 
regulations with the aim of improving benefit-cost and economic impact 
analyses used to inform decision-making at the agency. As a first step, 
the EPA has asked the SAB to provide feedback on its draft charge 
questions and analytic blueprint following the 60-day public comment 
period referenced in EPA-HQ-OA-2014-0129.
    With today's Notice, the Science Advisory Board Staff Office is 
soliciting nominations for an expert panel to provide advice to EPA 
through the chartered SAB on its draft analytical blueprint and any 
subsequent materials developed on economy-wide modeling. To conduct 
this review, the SAB Staff Office is forming an expert panel under the 
auspices of the Chartered SAB.
    Technical Contact for EPA's Draft Report: For information 
concerning EPA's draft charge questions and draft analytic blueprint on 
economy-wide modeling, please contact Dr. Ann Wolverton, National 
Center for Environmental Economics at [email protected] or 202-566-
2278.
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office requests nominations 
of environmental economists and other scientists with expertise in the 
following areas: Cost-benefit analysis; computable general equilibrium 
(CGE) modeling with experience in representing environmental and/or 
energy policy; the use of detailed sector models and linking CGE models 
to detailed sector models; non-CGE (macro) models for capturing general 
equilibrium effects of environmental policy; dynamic stochastic 
modeling in CGE and/or macro model contexts; representation of health 
improvements and other types of benefits in a CGE or non-CGE framework 
(e.g. use of state-dependent utility functions); transition dynamics in 
a general equilibrium framework (e.g., in labor or capital markets; 
spatial sorting models); interface of macro- and micro-economic 
modeling; quantifying and monetizing spatially differentiated 
mortality/morbidity/non-health welfare, and non-use effects of air 
quality; and the representation of non-use or environmental preferences 
in the utility function. The SAB Staff Office seeks labor economists 
with a macroeconomic or general equilibrium perspective who have 
expertise in the short-and long-run implications of regulatory 
decisions for household labor market decisions (e.g., labor-leisure 
trade-offs); and expertise in the labor market implications of 
productivity improvements due to better health. The SAB Staff Office is 
also seeking expertise on risk and uncertainty to formally characterize 
uncertainty in CGE and non-CGE models including representation of the 
effects of uncertainty on behavior of economic agents.
    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. 
Self-nominations are allowed as well. Nominations should be submitted 
in electronic format (preferred over hard copy) following the 
instructions for ``Nominating Experts to Advisory Panels and Ad Hoc 
Committees Being Formed,'' 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 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. Holly Stallworth, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. 
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than May 21, 
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 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

[[Page 24427]]

regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded from the following 
URL address http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/ethics?OpenDocument.
    The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects 
subcommittees and reviews 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: April 24, 2014.
 Thomas H. Brennan,
Deputy Director, Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-09902 Filed 4-29-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P