[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 133 (Friday, July 11, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40100-40101]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16308]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9913-44-OA]


Notification of Two Public Teleconferences of the Science 
Advisory Board Panel for the Review of the EPA Water Body Connectivity 
Report

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces 
two public teleconferences of the SAB Panel to provide comments to the 
chartered SAB on the adequacy of the scientific and technical basis of 
the proposed rule titled Definition of Waters of the United States 
under the Clean Water Act.

DATES: The SAB Panel for the Review of the EPA Water Body Connectivity 
Report will conduct public teleconferences on August 20, 2014 and 
August 21, 2014. Each of the teleconferences will begin at 1:00 p.m. 
and end at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).
    Location: The public teleconferences will be conducted by telephone 
only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing to 
obtain information concerning the public teleconferences may contact 
Dr. Thomas Armitage, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science 
Advisory Board Staff Office (1400R), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460; via 
telephone at (202) 564-2155 or via email at [email protected]. 
General information concerning the SAB as well as any updates 
concerning the teleconferences announced in this notice may 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 Panel for 
the Review of the EPA Water Body Connectivity Report will hold two 
public teleconferences to provide comments to the chartered SAB on 
adequacy of the scientific and technical basis of the proposed rule 
titled Definition of Waters of the United States under the Clean Water 
Act. This proposed rule was published by the EPA and the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers on April 21, 2014 (79 FR 22188).
    Background: The SAB Panel for the Review of the EPA Water Body 
Connectivity Report was established to conduct a peer review of the EPA 
draft report titled Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream 
Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence (September, 
2013 External Review Draft, EPA/600/R-11/098B). The report was written 
to inform development of a rule proposed by the EPA and the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers to clarify the definition of waters of the United 
States under the Clean Water Act (79 FR 22188). The Panel was charged 
with reviewing the overall clarity and technical accuracy of the EPA 
draft report, whether it included and correctly summarized the most 
relevant peer-reviewed scientific literature, and whether the findings 
and conclusions were supported by the available science. To conduct the 
peer review, the Panel held a face-to-face meeting on December 16-18, 
2013 [Federal Register Notice dated September 24, 2013 (78 FR 58536)], 
public teleconferences on April 28 and May 2, 2014 [Federal Register 
Notice dated April 1, 2014 (79 FR 18293)], and a public teleconference 
on June 19, 2014 [Federal Register Notice dated May 23, 2014 (79 FR 
29760)]. Information about this activity may be found at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/Watershed%20Connectivity%20Report?OpenDocument.
    The ERDDAA requires the EPA to make available to the SAB proposed 
criteria documents, standards, limitations, or regulations provided to 
any other federal agency for formal review and comment together with 
the relevant scientific and technical information on which the proposed 
action is based. The SAB may then make available to the Administrator 
its advice and comments on the adequacy of the scientific and technical 
basis of the proposed actions. The purpose of the upcoming 
teleconferences is for the SAB Panel to develop comments to the 
chartered SAB on the adequacy of the scientific and technical basis of 
the proposed rule cited above. Comments from the Panel will inform a 
letter to the EPA Administrator, to be prepared by the chartered SAB, 
on the adequacy of the scientific and technical basis of the proposed 
rule titled Definition of Waters of the United States under the Clean

[[Page 40101]]

Water Act. The two Panel teleconferences will be conducted as one 
complete meeting, beginning on August 20, 2014 and continuing on August 
21, 2014. Information about this advisory activity may be found at 
http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/WOUS-adv%26com?OpenDocument.
    Availability of Meeting Materials: Teleconference agendas and any 
other meeting materials will be placed on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab in advance of the teleconferences. The proposed rule 
titled Definition of Waters of the United States under the Clean Water 
Act is available on the EPA Web site at http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-04/documents/fr-2014-07142.pdf. For questions and 
information concerning the proposed rule please contact Ms. Donna 
Downing, Office of Water (4502-T), Environmental Protection Agency, 
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone (202) 
566-2428 or via email at [email protected].
    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 EPA. Members of the 
public can submit comments for a federal advisory committee to consider 
as it develops advice for EPA. Input from the public to the SAB will 
have the most impact if it provides specific scientific or technical 
information or analysis for SAB panels to consider or if it relates to 
the clarity or accuracy of the technical information. Members of the 
public wishing to provide oral statements to the SAB Panel should 
contact the DFO directly. Oral Statements: In general, individuals or 
groups requesting an oral presentation at a public teleconference will 
be limited to three minutes. Interested parties should contact Dr. 
Thomas Armitage, DFO, in writing (preferably via email) at the contact 
information noted above by August 13, 2014 to be placed on the list of 
public speakers for August 20, 2014. Written Statements: Members of the 
public wishing to provide written comments may submit them to the EPA 
Docket electronically via www.regulations.gov by email, by mail, or by 
hand delivery/courier. Please follow the detailed instructions provided 
in the written statements section of this notice. Written statements 
should be received in the EPA Docket by August 13, 2014 so that the 
information may be made available to the SAB Panel for its 
consideration. Written statements should be identified by Docket ID No. 
EPA-HQ-OA-2014-0010 and submitted to the Docket at www.regulations.gov 
by one of the following methods:
     www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]: Include the docket number in 
the subject line of the message.
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket 
(Mail Code: 28221T), Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA-2014-0010, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., 
Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is (202) 566-1752.
     Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA 
headquarters Docket Center, Room 3334, EPA West Building, 1301 
Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public 
Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public 
Reading Room is (202) 566-1744. Deliveries are only accepted during the 
docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be 
made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA-2014-0010. Please 
ensure that your comments are submitted by August 13, 2014. Comments 
received after that date will be marked late and may not be provided to 
the SAB Panel for consideration before the August 20, 2014 
teleconference. It is EPA's policy to include all comments received in 
the public docket without change and to make the comments available on-
line at www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless a comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov 
or email. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' 
system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact 
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you 
send an email directly to EPA without going through 
www.regulations.gov, your email address will be automatically captured 
and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket 
and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic 
comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact 
information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you 
submit. If EPA cannot read your comments due to technical difficulties 
and cannot contact you for clarification, the SAB Panel may not be able 
to consider your comments. Electronic files should avoid the use of 
special characters and any form of encryption and be free of any 
defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Documents in the docket are listed in the www.regulations.gov 
index. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly 
available, e.g., CBI or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted 
material will be publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly 
available docket materials are available either electronically at 
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center.
    Accessibility: For information on access or services for 
individuals with disabilities, please contact Dr. Thomas Armitage at 
(202) 564-2155 or [email protected]. To request accommodation of 
a disability, please contact Dr. Armitage preferably at least ten days 
prior to the teleconference to give EPA as much time as possible to 
process your request.

    Dated: June 30, 2014.
 Thomas H. Brennan,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2014-16308 Filed 7-10-14; 8:45 am]
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