UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

 WASHINGTON D.C. 20460

OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR

SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD

January 26, 2015

EPA-SAB-15-002

The Honorable Gina McCarthy

Administrator

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20460

Subject: Science Advisory Board (SAB) Consideration of EPA Planned Actions in the Spring

2014 Unified (Regulatory) Agenda and their Supporting Science

Dear Administrator McCarthy:

As part of its statutory duties, the Science Advisory Board (SAB) recently concluded discussions about 

possible review of the science supporting major EPA planned actions associated with the Spring 2014

Unified (Regulatory) Agenda and Regulatory Plan. The EPA Office of Policy provided notice of the 

release of this information on May 23, 2014. The SAB held a public teleconference on January 23, 2015,

to discuss whether to review the science supporting any of the planned regulatory actions in that agenda 

in order to provide advice and comment on the adequacy of the science, as authorized by section (c) of 

the Environmental Research, Development and Demonstration Authorization Act.

The SAB focused its attention on three major actions identified by the EPA Office of Policy as being 

planned but not yet proposed as of the date the Agenda was published in the Federal Register. At the 

public teleconference, the SAB decided that it will not undertake review of the science supporting any 

actions in the semi-annual regulatory agenda at this time. It notes, however, that one action, the 

Interstate Transport Rule for the 2008 Ozone NAAQS (2060-AS05), is not at a point in its regulatory 

development that the EPA could provide sufficient information for the SAB to consider whether Board 

review is necessary. The SAB requests that the Office of Air and Radiation provide the SAB with more 

information about the scientific basis for this action as soon as that information becomes available. The 

SAB plans to reconsider potential Board review at that time.

The SAB appreciates the information provided by the EPA Office of Policy and the EPA program 

offices describing the planned actions, associated scientific questions, and agency plans for scientific 

analyses and peer review. The written information provided and the results of fact-finding discussions 

with EPA Staff are available on the SAB website.
On behalf of the SAB, I thank you for the opportunity to support EPA through consideration of the 

science supporting actions in the agency’s regulatory agenda.

Sincerely,

/signed/

Dr. David T. Allen, Chair

Science Advisory Board

Enclosure

(1) Roster of SAB Members
i

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Science Advisory Board

CHAIR

Dr. David T. Allen, Gertz Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Director of the 

Center for Energy and Environmental Resources, The University of Texas, Austin, TX

MEMBERS

Dr. George Alexeeff, Director, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California 

Environmental Protection Agency, Oakland, CA

Dr. Joseph Arvai, Professor and Svare Chair in Applied Decision Research, Department of 

Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Dr. Sylvie M. Brouder, Professor and Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural 

Research, Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Dr. Thomas Burbacher, Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health 

Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Dr. Ingrid Burke, Director and Wyoming Excellence Chair, Haub School and Ruckelshaus 

Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

Dr. George Daston, Victor Mills Society Research Fellow, Global Product Stewardship, The 

Procter & Gamble Company, Mason, OH

Dr. Costel Denson, Managing Member, Costech Technologies, LLC, Hockessin, DE

Dr. Michael Dourson, President, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, Cincinnati, OH

Dr. Joel Ducoste, Professor, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental 

Engineering, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

Dr. David A. Dzombak, Hamerschlag University Professor and Department Head, Department 

of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 

Pittsburgh, PA

Dr. Elaine M. Faustman, Professor and Director, Environmental and Occupational Health 

Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Dr. R. William Field, Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, and 

Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
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Dr. H. Christopher Frey, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Civil, 

Construction and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, North Carolina State 

University, Raleigh, NC

Dr. Steven Hamburg, Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund, Boston, MA

Dr. Cynthia M. Harris, Director and Professor, Institute of Public Health, Florida A&M 

University, Tallahassee, FL

Dr. Robert J. Johnston, Director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute and Professor, 

Economics, Clark University, Worcester, MA

Dr. Kimberly L. Jones, Professor and Chair, Department of Civil and Environmental 

Engineering, Howard University, Washington, DC

Dr. Catherine Karr, Associate Professor - Pediatrics and Environmental and Occupational 

Health Sciences and Director - NW Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, University of 

Washington, Seattle, WA

Dr. Madhu Khanna, ACES Distinguished Professor in Environmental Economics, Department 

of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, 

IL

Dr. Nancy K. Kim, Independent Consultant, Independent Consultant, Albany, NY

Dr. Francine Laden, Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental 

Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, and Channing Division of Network Medicine, 

Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Dr. Lois Lehman-McKeeman, Distinguished Research Fellow, Discovery Toxicology, BristolMyers Squibb, Princeton, NJ

Dr. Cecil Lue-Hing, President, Cecil Lue-Hing & Assoc. Inc., Burr Ridge, IL

Dr. Elizabeth Matsui, Associate Professor, Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins 

University, Baltimore, MD

Dr. Denise Mauzerall, Professor, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 

and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

Dr. Kristina D. Mena, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and 

Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at 

Houston, El Paso, TX

Dr. Surabi Menon, Director of Research, ClimateWorks Foundation, San Francisco, CA
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Dr. James R. Mihelcic, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South 

Florida, Tampa, FL

Dr. H. Keith Moo-Young, Chancellor, Office of Chancellor, Washington State University, TriCities, Richland, WA

Dr. Eileen Murphy, Director of Research Development, Office of Research and Economic 

Development, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

Dr. James Opaluch, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and Natural Resource 

Economics, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, 

Kingston, RI

Dr. Martin Philbert, Dean and Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public 

Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Mr. Richard L. Poirot, Air Quality Planning Chief, Air Quality and Climate Division, Vermont 

Department of Environmental Conservation, Montpelier, VT

Dr. Stephen Polasky, Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological/Environmental Economics, 

Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

Dr. David B. Richardson, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public 

Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

Dr. Amanda D. Rodewald, Director of Conservation Science, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and 

Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Dr. William Schlesinger, President Emeritus, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, 

NY

Dr. Gina Solomon, Deputy Secretary for Science and Health, Office of the Secretary, California 

Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, CA

Dr. Daniel O. Stram, Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Division of Biostatistics, 

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Dr. Peter S. Thorne, Professor and Head, Department of Occupational & Environmental 

Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Dr. Paige Tolbert, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of 

Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Dr. Jeanne VanBriesen, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
iv

Dr. John Vena, Professor and Founding Chair, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical 

University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC

Dr. Elke Weber, Jerome A. Chazen Professor of International Business, Columbia Business 

School, New York, NY

Dr. Charles Werth, Professor and Bettie Margaret Smith Chair in Environmental Health 

Engineering, Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Cockrell 

School of Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Dr. Peter J. Wilcoxen, Associate Professor, Economics and Public Administration, The 

Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

Dr. Dawn J. Wright, Chief Scientist, Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), 

Redlands, CA

SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD STAFF

Dr. Angela Nugent, Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Science Advisory Board, Washington, DC