[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 133 (Friday, July 11, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40101-40103]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16269]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9913-43-OA]


Notification of a Public Meeting of the Science Advisory Board 
Advisory Panel on EPA's Report on the Environment 2014

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory 
Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public meeting of the SAB Advisory 
Panel on EPA's Report on the Environment (ROE) 2014.

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DATES: The SAB Advisory Panel on EPA's Report on the Environment 2014 
public meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, from 9:00 a.m. 
to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time and Thursday, July 31, 2014, from 8:30 a.m. 
to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the J.W. Marriott, 1331 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public who wishes 
further information concerning the public meeting may contact Ms. 
Stephanie Sanzone, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), via telephone at 
(202) 564-2067 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:

Background

    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 
and its panels 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 Advisory Panel on EPA's 
Report on the Environment 2014 will hold a public meeting to discuss 
the Agency's draft Report on the Environment (ROE) 2014. This SAB panel 
will provide advice to the Administrator through the chartered SAB.
    EPA's ROE compiles and maintains indicators on the status and 
trends for environmental and human health conditions related to the 
mission of the agency. The indicators are focused on informing 
questions of interest to the EPA and its mission of protecting the 
environment and human health. The EPA's first ROE was released in draft 
in 2003 with the corresponding final report released in 2008 in hard 
copy and online format. The SAB provided advice on two draft versions 
leading up to the 2008 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). In 2009, SAB members 
provided additional input to inform the continued development of future 
versions of the ROE (see report EPA-SAB-09-017). In response to 
suggestions from the SAB and additional comments from users of the ROE, 
the EPA developed the draft ROE 2014 as an entirely web-based product.
    The EPA's Office of Research and Development has requested that the 
SAB review and comment on the recently released draft of the ROE Web 
site (http://www.epa.gov/draftroe) with particular attention to the new 
features added since the release of the 2008 report. Specifically, the 
Agency has requested the SAB to comment on the clarity of the ROE 
objectives for various audiences, the overarching conceptual framework 
based on a sustainability theme, the addition of statistical 
information for individual indicators, and the presentation of the ROE 
2014 features in an online format.
    The EPA made the draft ROE 2014 Web site available for public 
comment through April 27, 2014 (see https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/03/27/2014-06824/draft-revised-epas-report-on-the-environment-2014). Public comments received by the agency will be 
provided to the SAB panel.
    The purpose of the July 30-31, 2014, meeting is for the SAB Panel 
to be briefed on the ROE 2014 and to develop draft responses to a set 
of EPA charge questions. Additional information about this advisory 
activity, including the process for forming the SAB panel, can be found 
at the following URL: http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/ROE%202014?OpenDocument.

Technical Contacts

    Any technical questions concerning EPA's draft ROE 2014 should be 
directed to Dr. Jeffrey Frithsen at (703) 347-8623 or by email at 
[email protected].

Availability of Meeting Materials

    The external review draft of the ROE 2014 is available at http://www.epa.gov/draftroe. Additional information, including the meeting 
agenda, the EPA charge and other materials provided to the panel, will 
be accessible prior to the meeting 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 (including the review materials and the charge), 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 Ms. Stephanie Sanzone, DFO, in 
writing (preferably via email) at the contact information noted above 
by July 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 July 23, 2014, 
so that the information may be made available to the panel members for 
their consideration prior to the meeting. 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 Ms. Stephanie Sanzone at (202) 564-2067 or 
[email protected]. To request accommodation of a disability, 
please contact Ms. Sanzone preferably at least ten days prior to the 
meeting to give EPA as much time as possible to process your request.


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    Dated: June 25, 2014.
Christopher Zarba,
Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-16269 Filed 7-10-14; 8:45 am]
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