[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 129 (Friday, July 7, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31594-31595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14338]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9964-75-OA]


Notification of a Closed Meeting of the Science Advisory Board's 
2017 Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards Committee and 
Closed Meeting of the Science Advisory Board

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Science Advisory 
Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a meeting of the SAB's 2017 
Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards (STAA) Committee and a 
meeting of the chartered SAB to develop and review recommendations for 
recognition under the Agency's 2017 STAA program. These meetings are 
closed to the public.

DATES: The STAA Committee meeting will be held Wednesday, July 19, 
2017, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Thursday, July 20, 2017, from 
8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). The chartered SAB meeting will 
be held Friday, September 15, 2017, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. 
(Eastern Time). The meetings will be closed to the public.

ADDRESSES: The STAA Committee meeting will be held at the Melrose 
Georgetown Hotel, 2430 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20037. 
The chartered SAB meeting will be held in the Washington, DC metro 
area, and an agenda with the final location will be posted on the SAB 
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Members of the public who wish to 
obtain further information regarding the STAA Committee meeting may 
contact Edward Hanlon, Designated Federal Officer, by telephone: (202) 
564-2134 or email at [email protected]. Members of the public who 
wish to obtain further information regarding the chartered SAB meeting 
may contact Thomas Carpenter, Designated Federal Officer, by telephone: 
(202) 564-4885 or email at [email protected]. The SAB Mailing 
address is EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office (1400R), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20460. General information about the SAB as well as 
updates concerning the SAB meeting announced in this notice may be 
found on the SAB 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 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 2017 STAA Committee 
will hold a closed meeting to develop recommendations for recipients of 
the Agency's 2017 STAA program achievement awards and recommendations 
for improvement of the Agency's STAA program, and the chartered SAB 
will hold a closed meeting to conduct a review of the SAB 2017 STAA 
Committee's draft advisory report. Under normal circumstances, a notice 
of the Committee meeting must be published no later than 15 days before 
the date of that meeting. Due to unavoidable administrative 
circumstances, we are publishing this notice with less than 15 days' 
advance notice for the STAA Committee meeting on July 19 and 20, 2017.
    The STAA awards are established to honor and recognize EPA 
employees who have made outstanding contributions in the advancement of 
science and technology through their research and development 
activities, as exhibited in publication of their results in peer 
reviewed journals. In conducting its review, the SAB considers each 
nomination in relation to the following four award levels:
     Level I awards are for those who have accomplished an 
exceptionally high-quality research or technological effort. The awards 
recognize the creation or general revision of scientific or 
technological principle or procedure, or a highly significant 
improvement in the value of a device, activity, program, or service to 
the public. Awarded research is of national significance or has high 
impact on a broad area of science/technology. The research has far 
reaching consequences and is recognizable as a major scientific/
technological achievement within its discipline or field of study.
     Level II awards are for those who have accomplished a 
notably excellent research or technological effort that has qualities 
and values similar to, but to a lesser degree, than those described 
under Level I. Awarded research has timely consequences and contributes 
as

[[Page 31595]]

an important scientific/technological achievement within its discipline 
or field of study.
     Level III awards are for those who have accomplished an 
unusually notable research or technological effort. The awards are for 
a substantial revision or modification of a scientific/technological 
principle or procedure, or an important improvement to the value of a 
device, activity, program, or service to the public. Awarded research 
relates to a mission or organizational component of the EPA, or 
significantly affects a relevant area of science/technology.
     Honorable Mention awards acknowledge research efforts that 
are noteworthy but do not warrant a Level I, II or III award. Honorable 
Mention applies to research that: (1) May not quite reach the level 
described for a Level III award; (2) show a promising area of research 
that the Subcommittee wants to encourage; or (3) show an area of 
research that the Subcommittees feels is too preliminary to warrant an 
award recommendation at this time.
    The SAB reviews the STAA nomination packages according to the 
following five evaluation factors:
     The extent to which the work reported in the nominated 
publication(s) resulted in either new or significantly revised 
knowledge. The accomplishment is expected to represent an important 
advancement of scientific knowledge or technology relevant to 
environmental issues and EPA's mission.
     The extent to which environmental protection has been 
strengthened or improved, whether of local, national, or international 
importance.
     The degree to which the research is a product of the 
originality, creativeness, initiative, and problem-solving ability of 
the researchers, as well as the level of effort required to produce the 
results.
     The extent of the beneficial impact of the research and 
the degree to which the research has been favorably recognized from 
outside EPA.
     The nature and extent of peer review, including stature 
and quality of the peer-reviewed journal or the publisher of a book for 
a review chapter published therein.
    I have determined that the meetings of the STAA Committee and 
chartered SAB will be closed to the public because they are concerned 
with selecting employees deserving of awards. In making these 
recommendations, the Agency requires full and frank advice from the 
SAB. This advice will involve professional judgments on the relative 
merits of various employees and their respective work. Such personnel 
matters involve the discussion of information that is of a personal 
nature and the disclosure of which would be a clearly unwarranted 
invasion of personal privacy and, therefore, are protected from 
disclosure by section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act 
(FACA), 5 U.S.C. App. 2, and sections (c)(2) and (c)(6) of the 
Government in the Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(2) and (6). Minutes of 
the meetings of the STAA Committee and chartered SAB will be kept and 
certified by the chair of those meetings.

    Dated: June 30, 2017.
E. Scott Pruitt,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2017-14338 Filed 7-6-17; 8:45 am]
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