[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 173 (Thursday, September 6, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45235-45236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19361]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9983-39-OA]


Notification of a Public Teleconference of the Chartered Science 
Advisory Board (SAB)

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 teleconference of the 
Chartered SAB to: Conduct two quality reviews of the draft SAB Review 
of EPA's Draft Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether and 
Draft Toxicological Review of tert-Butyl Alcohol; and the draft SAB 
review of the EPA's Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO2 
Emissions from Stationary Sources (2014); and receive updates on 
current SAB projects and future topics from the EPA.

DATES: The teleconference will be held on Wednesday, September 26, 
2018, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).

ADDRESSES: The public teleconference will be held by telephone only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing to 
obtain information concerning the public teleconference may contact Mr. 
Thomas Carpenter, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science 
Advisory Board Staff Office (1400R), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; by 
telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-4885 or at [email protected]. 
General information about the SAB, as well as any updates concerning 
the meeting announced in this notice, may be found on the EPA website 
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 scientific 
and 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 will hold a public teleconference to discuss and deliberate on 
the topics below.
    Quality Review of the draft SAB Review of EPA's Draft Assessments 
titled Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether and 
Toxicological Review of tert-Butyl Alcohol (tert-Butanol): National 
Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) in the EPA's Office of 
Research and Development (ORD) develops toxicological reviews/
assessments for various chemicals for the Integrated Risk Information 
System and requested that the SAB conduct a peer review of the two EPA 
draft assessments. NCEA is developing a draft Toxicological Review of 
tert-Butyl Alcohol (tert-butanol) and Toxicological Review of Ethyl 
Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE). These two draft EPA documents represent 
new IRIS assessments of tert-butanol and ETBE. Experimental animal data 
and other relevant data from studies of the noncancer and cancer 
effects of tert-butanol and ETBE are evaluated in these assessments. 
These assessments include an oral reference dose (RfD) and inhalation 
reference concentration (RfC) for noncancer effects as well as a cancer 
assessment. The cancer assessments characterize tert-butanol and ETBE 
as having suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential to humans and 
include oral cancer slope factors for both compounds and an inhalation 
unit risk for ETBE. The EPA SAB Staff Office augmented the SAB CAAC 
with subject matter experts, to provide advice to the Administrator 
through the chartered SAB regarding these assessments. Background on 
the current advisory activity can be found on the SAB website at: 
https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabpeople.nsf/WebCommittees/BOARD.
    Quality review of a draft SAB review report on the Framework for 
Assessing Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources: In 
2012, the SAB completed a review of the first draft accounting 
framework addressing scientific and technical issues associated with 
biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, Accounting 
Framework for Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources 
(September 2011). The EPA subsequently revised the 2011 framework and 
requested the SAB to conduct a review of the Framework for Assessing 
Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources (November 
2014). The purpose of the 2014 framework is to develop a method for 
calculating the adjustment, or Biogenic Assessment Factor (BAF), for 
carbon emissions associated with the combustion of biogenic feedstocks 
considering the biological carbon cycle effects associated with their 
growth, harvest

[[Page 45236]]

and processing. The SAB conducted two previous quality reviews and 
identified revisions to the draft reports in order to clarify the 
recommendations and in some cases to reframe them to ensure they are 
not policy prescriptive. This report is a product of SAB's direct 
efforts and utilizes portions of the draft reports. Previous drafts of 
the panel's report are retained on the SAB website. Background on the 
current advisory activity, Biogenic Carbon Dioxide Emissions from 
Stationary Sources--Assessment Framework can be found on the SAB 
website at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/fedrgstr_activites/Biogenic%20CO2%20Framework?OpenDocument.
    Briefings and updates. The SAB will receive updates from SAB 
members on the current activities of committees and panels developing 
advisory reports and briefings on future topics from the EPA staff.
    Pursuant to FACA and EPA policy, notice is hereby given that the 
Chartered SAB will hold a public teleconference to discuss information 
provided by the EPA on these topics. The Chartered SAB will comply with 
the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural 
policies.
    Availability of Meeting Materials: Prior to the meeting, the review 
documents, agenda and other materials will be accessible on the SAB 
website at http://www.epa.gov/sab/.
    Procedures for Providing Public Input: Public comment for 
consideration by the EPA's federal advisory committees and panels has a 
different purpose from public comment provided to the 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. Members of 
the public can submit comments for a federal advisory committee to 
consider as it develops advice for the EPA. Interested members of the 
public may submit relevant written or oral information on the topic of 
this advisory activity, 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 to consider or if it 
relates to the clarity or accuracy of the technical information. 
Members of the public wishing to provide comment should follow the 
instructions below to submit comments. Oral Statements: In general, 
individuals or groups requesting an oral presentation on a public 
teleconference will be limited to three minutes. Each person making an 
oral statement should consider providing written comments as well as 
their oral statement so that the points presented orally can be 
expanded upon in writing. Interested parties should contact Mr. Thomas 
Carpenter, DFO, in writing (preferably via email) at the contact 
information noted above by September 19, 2018, to be placed on the list 
of public speakers. Written Statements: Written statements should be 
supplied to the DFO via email at the contact information noted above by 
September 19, 2018, so that the information may be made available to 
the SAB members for their consideration. It is the SAB Staff Office 
general policy to post written comments on the web page for the 
advisory meeting or teleconference. Members of the public should be 
aware that their personal contact information, if included in any 
written comments, may be posted to the SAB website. 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 Mr. Thomas Carpenter at 
the contact information provided above. To request accommodation of a 
disability, please contact Mr. Carpenter preferably at least ten days 
prior to each meeting to give the EPA as much time as possible to 
process your request.

    Dated: August 30, 2018.
Khanna Johnston,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2018-19361 Filed 9-5-18; 8:45 am]
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