[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 61 (Wednesday, March 30, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17649-17650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-7460]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9288-2]


Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations; SAB 
Mercury Review Panel

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office provides 
notice that the SAB will form a panel to conduct an independent review 
of EPA's Mercury Technical Support Document and is requesting 
additional public nominations of experts.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by April 6, 2011 per 
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations 
may contact Dr. Angela Nugent, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB 
Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-2188; by fax at 
(202) 565-2098 or via e-mail at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8de3f8eae8e3f9a3ece3eae8e1eccde8fdeca3eae2fb"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="86e8f3e1e3e8f2a8e7e8e1e3eae7c6e3f6e7a8e1e9f0">[email protected]</span></a>, General 
information concerning the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found at 
the EPA 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 (ERDAA), 
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.
    On February 28, 2011 (76 FR 10896-10897) the EPA SAB Staff Office 
published a request for public nominations of experts to serve on a 
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) panel to conduct

[[Page 17650]]

an independent review of EPA's Mercury Technical Support Document. As 
described in that notice, the SAB Staff Office was responding to an EPA 
request for peer review of a March 2011 draft risk assessment for 
mercury, entitled Technical Support Document: National-Scale Mercury 
Risk Assessment Supporting the Appropriate and Necessary Finding for 
Coal and Oil-Fired Electric Generating Unit. This technical document 
was developed to support a proposed rule concerning regulation of 
hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) released from coal-burning electric 
generating units in the United States (U.S. EGUs) under Section 
112(n)(1)(A) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This regulation may 
potentially use a Maximally Achievable Control Device (MACT) approach 
to set a technology-based standard for reducing HAP emissions.
    The SAB Staff Office has determined that the SAB, rather than 
CASAC, will conduct the review. Therefore, the new panel will be formed 
under the authority of the SAB. Nominations of experts in response to 
the February 28, 2011 Federal Register Notice will be considered for 
the new SAB panel and the period for nominations will be extended.
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is seeking 
nominations of nationally and internationally recognized experts with 
research experience and expertise in the following disciplines, 
particularly related to mercury: atmospheric fate, transport and 
modeling; aquatic fate, transport and modeling; bioaccumulation; human 
exposure; epidemiology; toxicology, including reproductive and 
neurotoxicology, biostatistics, and risk assessment.
    EPA contact for background information pertaining to this review: 
For questions concerning the development of EPA's mercury assessment, 
on the Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/utility/pro/hg_risk_tsd_3-17-11.pdf, please contact Dr. Zachary Pekar at (919) 541-3704 or 
pekar.zachary @epa.gov.
    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 this expert ad hoc 
Panel. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format (which is 
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. The instructions can be accessed through 
the ``Nomination of Experts'' link on the blue navigational bar on the 
SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. To receive full consideration, 
nominations should include all of the information requested.
    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 curriculum vita; 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. Angela Nugent, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. 
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than April 
6, 2011. 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, will be posted in a List of Candidates on 
the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on this 
List of Candidates will be accepted for 21 calendar 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 subcommittee or 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 
the SAB Mercury Technical Support Document Review Panel, the SAB Staff 
Office will consider public comments on the List 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 lack of 
impartiality; and (e) skills working in committees, subcommittees and 
advisory panels; and, for the Panel as a whole, (f) diversity of 
expertise and viewpoints.
    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 Special Government Employees Serving on 
Federal Advisory Committees at the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency'' (EPA Form 3110-48). This confidential form allows Government 
officials to determine whether there is a statutory conflict between 
that person's public responsibilities (which includes membership on an 
EPA Federal advisory committee) and private interests and activities, 
or the appearance of a lack of impartiality, as defined by Federal 
regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded from the following 
URL address at http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/epaform3110-48.pdf.
    The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects 
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 http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ec02010.pdf.

    Dated: March 24, 2011.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2011-7460 Filed 3-29-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


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