[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 178 (Thursday, September 13, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46487-46488]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19952]
[[Page 46487]]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0605; FRL-9983-09]
Request for Nominations of Experts To Consider for ad hoc
Participation and Possible Membership on the Toxic Substances Control
Act (TSCA), Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA requests public nominations of scientific experts to
be considered for ad hoc participation and possible membership on the
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Science Advisory Committee on
Chemicals (SACC). All nominees will be considered for ad hoc
participation in the TSCA SACC's peer reviews of the EPA's risk
evaluations for the first 10 chemical substances addressed under the
TSCA. In addition, all nominees may be considered for TSCA SACC
membership to fulfill short term needs when a vacancy occurs on the
chartered Committee.
DATES: Nominations. Nominations should be provided to the Designated
Federal Official (DFO) listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT on
or before October 29, 2018.
For additional instructions, see Unit I.B. of the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Todd Peterson, DFO, Office of
Science Coordination and Policy (7201M), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone
number: (202) 564-6428; email address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this action apply to me?
This action is directed to the public in general. This action may,
however, be of interest to persons who are or may be required to
conduct testing and risk evaluations of chemical substances under the
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Since other entities may also be
interested, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific
entities that may be affected by this action.
B. What should I consider as I prepare my nominations for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit CBI information to EPA through
regulations.gov or email. If your nomination contains any information
that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected, please contact the
DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT to obtain special
instructions before submitting your nomination.
2. Request for nominations to be considered for ad hoc
participation and possible membership on the TSCA SACC. As part of a
broader process for developing a pool of candidates, OSCP staff
solicits from the public and stakeholder communities nominations of
prospective candidates for service as ad hoc reviewers and possibly
members of TSCA SACC. Any interested person or organization may
nominate qualified individuals to be considered as prospective
candidates. Individuals may self-nominate. Individuals nominated should
have expertise in one or more of the following areas: Women's health;
children's health; genetic variability; disproportionately exposed
populations; aging; other susceptible populations; biochemistry;
chemistry; epidemiology; human health risk assessment; pathology; PBPK
modeling; pharmacology; ecological risk assessment; environmental fate;
environmental toxicology; occupational, consumer, and general exposure
assessment; toxicology; dose response modeling; environmental
engineering; biostatistics; computational toxicology; fiber science;
inhalation toxicology; volatile organics; and systematic review.
Nominees should be scientists who have sufficient professional
qualifications, including training and experience, to be capable of
providing expert comments on the scientific issues for a TSCA SACC
meeting. Nominees should be identified by name, occupation, position,
address, email address, and telephone number. Nominations should be
provided to the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT on or
before October 29, 2018. The Agency will consider all nominations of
prospective candidates for service as ad hoc reviewers and possibly
members of the TSCA SACC that are received on or before that date.
However, final selection of ad hoc participants and members is at the
discretion of the Agency.
The selection of scientists to serve as ad hoc reviewers and
members of the TSCA SACC is based on the function of the Committee and
the expertise needed to address the Agency's charge to the Committee.
No interested scientists shall be ineligible to serve by reason of
their membership on any other advisory committee to a Federal
department or agency or their employment by a Federal department or
agency, except EPA. Other factors considered during the selection
process include availability of the prospective candidate to fully
participate in the Committee's reviews, absence of any conflicts of
interest or appearance of loss of impartiality, independence with
respect to the matters under review, and lack of bias. Although
financial conflicts of interest, the appearance of loss of
impartiality, lack of independence, and bias may result in
disqualification, the absence of such concerns does not assure that a
candidate will be selected to serve on TSCA SACC. Often, numerous
available and qualified candidates are identified for ad hoc
participation and membership. Therefore, selection decisions involve
carefully weighing a number of factors including the candidates' areas
of expertise and professional qualifications and achieving an overall
balance of different scientific perspectives on the Committee.
TSCA SACC members are subject to the provisions of 5 CFR part
2634--Executive Branch Financial Disclosure, Qualified Trusts, and
Certificates of Divestiture, as supplemented by EPA in 5 CFR part 6401.
In anticipation of this requirement, prospective candidates for service
on TSCA SACC will be asked to submit confidential financial information
which shall fully disclose, among other financial interests, the
candidate's employment, stocks and bonds, and where applicable, sources
of research support. EPA will evaluate the candidates' financial
disclosure forms to assess whether there are financial conflicts of
interest, appearance of a loss of impartiality, or any prior
involvement with the development of the documents under consideration
(including previous scientific peer review) before the candidate is
considered further for service on TSCA SACC. Those who are selected
from the pool of prospective candidates will be asked to attend the
public meetings and to participate in the discussion of key issues and
assumptions at these meetings. In addition, they will be asked to
review and to help finalize the meeting minutes. The list of ad hoc
reviewers and TSCA SACC members participating at each meeting will be
posted on the TSCA SACC website at http://www.epa.gov/tsca-peer-review
or may be obtained from the OPPT Docket at http://www.regulations.gov.
II. Background
A. Purpose of TSCA SACC
The Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) was established
by EPA in 2016 under the authority of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical
Safety for the 21st Century Act, Public Law 114-
[[Page 46488]]
182, 140 Stat. 448 (2016), and operates in accordance with the Federal
Advisory Committee Act (FACA) of 1972. The SACC supports activities
under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), 15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.,
the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA), 42 U.S.C. 13101 et seq., and other
applicable statutes. The SACC provides independent scientific advice
and recommendations to the EPA on the scientific and technical aspects
of risk assessments, methodologies, and pollution prevention measures
and approaches for chemicals regulated under TSCA.
The SACC is comprised of experts in: Toxicology; environmental risk
assessment; exposure assessment; and related sciences (e.g., synthetic
biology, pharmacology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, biochemistry,
biostatistics, PBPK modeling, computational toxicology, epidemiology,
environmental fate, and environmental engineering and sustainability).
The SACC currently consists of 26 members. When needed, the committee
will be assisted in their reviews by ad hoc reviewers with specific
expertise in the topics under consideration.
At this time, EPA is seeking nominations to create a pool of
experts who can be available to the SACC to assist in reviews conducted
by the Committee. EPA anticipates selecting experts from this pool, as
needed, to assist the SACC in their review of EPA's risk evaluations
for the first 10 chemical substances addressed under the TSCA: Pigment
Violet 29; 1,4-Dioxane, Asbestos; Cyclic Aliphatic Bromide Cluster
(HBCD); 1-Bromopropane; Perchloroethylene; Trichloroethylene; Carbon
Tetrachloride; Methylene Chloride; and n-Methylpyrolidone.
In addition, EPA anticipates selecting from the pool of experts, as
needed, to appoint SACC members to fulfill short term needs when a
vacancy occurs on the Committee due to resignation or reasons other
than expiration of a term.
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2625 et seq.; 5 U.S.C. Appendix 2 et seq.
Dated: September 4, 2018.
Stanley Barone, Jr.,
Acting Director, Office of Science Coordination and Policy.
[FR Doc. 2018-19952 Filed 9-12-18; 8:45 am]
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