[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 153 (Tuesday, August 9, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52682-52684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18881]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9950-42-OA]


Request for Nominations for a Science Advisory Board Panel To 
Review Risk and Technology Review Screening Methods

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office requests 
public nominations of scientific experts to form a Panel to review the 
draft EPA report entitled ``Screening Methodologies to Support Risk and 
Technology Reviews (RTR).'' This draft report describes newly developed 
screening methods designed to assess the risk to public health and the 
environment that would remain after stationary sources of hazardous air 
pollutants come into compliance with the EPA's Maximum Available 
Control Technologies (MACT) standards.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by August 30, 2016 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 the Designated Federal Officer. Nominators unable to submit 
nominations electronically as described below may contact the 
Designated Federal Officer for assistance. 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, 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 
RTR Methods Review Panel will provide advice through the chartered SAB 
on scientific and technical issues related to assessing risks to public 
health and the

[[Page 52683]]

environment from hazardous air pollutants. The SAB and this Panel will 
comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office 
procedural policies.
    EPA's Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) has prepared a draft report 
entitled ``Screening Methodologies to Support Risk and Technology 
Reviews (RTR): A Case Study Analysis.'' The Clean Air Act (CAA) 
establishes a two-stage regulatory process for addressing emissions of 
hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from stationary sources. In the first 
stage, the CAA requires the EPA to develop technology-based standards, 
known as Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards, for 
categories of industrial sources. In the second stage, the EPA must 
review each MACT standard at least every eight years and revise them as 
necessary, taking into account developments in practices, processes and 
control technologies. EPA must also conduct an assessment of the health 
and environmental risks that remain after stationary sources come into 
compliance with the MACT standards. Periodically, the SAB is asked to 
review the methods that OAR uses to estimate risks as these methods 
evolve or as new methods are developed. Thus, OAR has requested the SAB 
to review EPA's draft report that describes newly enhanced screening 
methods designed to estimate the potential risks to public health and 
the environment that would remain after stationary sources of HAPs come 
into compliance with EPA's MACT standards. These include screening 
methods to estimate the potential for multi-pathway risks (e.g., 
ingestion, inhalation) from persistent and bioaccumulative HAPs, 
screening methods to estimate potential environmental risks, and recent 
enhancements to the EPA's inhalation risk assessment methodology. The 
SAB Staff Office is forming an expert panel, the SAB RTR Methods Review 
Panel, under the auspices of the Chartered SAB to conduct this review.
    Technical Contact for EPA's draft report: For information 
concerning the draft report ``Screening Methodologies to Support Risk 
and Technology Reviews (RTR): A Case Study Analysis'' please contact 
Dr. Michael Stewart by email at [email protected] or phone (919) 
541-7524.
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is seeking 
nominations of nationally and internationally recognized scientists 
with demonstrated expertise in the following disciplines: Human health 
risk assessment, ecological risk assessment, exposure assessment, 
toxicology, ecology, aquatic toxicology, air toxics, and dispersion 
modeling. Additional information about this advisory activity is 
available on the SAB Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/RTR%20Screening%20Methods%20Review?OpenDocument. Questions regarding 
this advisory activity should be directed to Dr. Suhair Shallal, 
Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB Staff Office, by telephone/voice 
mail at (202) 564-2057, by fax at (202) 565-2098, or via email at 
[email protected].
    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 the SAB RTR 
Methods Review Panel identified in this notice. Individuals may self-
nominate. 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 (see the ``Nomination of Experts'' link 
under ``Current Activities'' at 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. Shallal as indicated above in this notice. Nominations 
should be submitted in time to arrive no later than August 30, 2016. 
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 Office, will be posted in a List of 
Candidates for the panel on the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. 
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 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 the expert 
panel, the SAB Staff Office will consider public comments on the Lists 
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 Environmental Protection Agency Special 
Government Employees'' (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 URL address http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/ethics?OpenDocument.
    The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects members 
for 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 https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/
sabproduct.nsf/WebFiles/OverviewPanelForm/$File/ec02010.pdf.


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    Dated: August 3, 2016.
Thomas H. Brennan,
 Deputy Director, Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2016-18881 Filed 8-8-16; 8:45 am]
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