### 50505 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 162 / Tuesday, August 21, 2012 / Notices

**SUMMARY :**  Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, notice is hereby given that the Good Neighbor Environmental Board (GNEB) will hold a public teleconference on March 22, 2012 from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The meeting is open to the public. For further information regarding the teleconference and background materials, please contact Mark Joyce at the number listed below.

Background: GNEB is a federal advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92463. GNEB provides advice and recommendations to the President and Congress on environmental and infrastructure issues along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Purpose of Meeting: The purpose of this teleconference is to discuss the Good Neighbor Environmental Board’s Fifteenth Report. The report will focus on water infrastructure issues in the U.S.-Mexico border region.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :**  If you wish to make oral comments or submit written comments to the Board, please contact Mark Joyce at least five days prior to the meeting.

General Information: Additional information concerning the GNEB can be found on its Web site at www.epa.gov/ofacmo/gneb.

Meeting Access: For information on access or services for individuals with disabilities, please contact Mark Joyce at (202) 564–2130 or email at joyce.mark@epa.gov. To request accommodation of a disability, please contact Mark Joyce at least 10 days prior to the meeting to give EPA as much time as possible to process your request.

Dated: August 8, 2012. Mark Joyce, Acting Designated Federal Officer.

[FR Doc. 2012–20520 Filed 8–20–12; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE P**

**ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY** 

**[FRL– 9717–1]**

**Science Advisory Board Staff Office Request for Nominations of Experts for**  **the SAB Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel** 

**AGENCY :**  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

**ACTION :**  Notice.

**SUMMARY :**  The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is requesting public nominations for technical experts to form an SAB ad hoc panel to provide advice through the chartered SAB on EPA’s research related to hydraulic fracturing.

**DATES :**  Nominations should be submitted by September 11, 2012 per instructions below.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  Any member of the public wishing further information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations may contact Mr. Edward Hanlon, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 564–2134; by fax at (202) 565–2098 or via email at hanlon.edward@epa.gov. General information concerning the EPA SAB can be found at the EPA SAB Web site

at http://www.epa.gov/sab. Any inquiry regarding EPA’s planned research efforts on the potential public health and environmental protection issues that may be associated with hydraulic fracturing should be directed to Ms. Cindy Roberts, EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD), at roberts. cindy@epa.gov or (202) 564–1999. Media inquiries regarding EPA’s hydraulic fracturing research results should be directed to Dayna Gibbons, EPA ORD, at gibbons.dayna@epa.gov or (202) 564–7983.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :** 

Background: The SAB (42 U.S.C. 4365) is a chartered Federal Advisory Committee that provides independent scientific and technical peer review, advice, consultation, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the technical basis for EPA actions. As a Federal Advisory Committee, the SAB conducts business in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. 2) and related regulations. The SAB will comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural policies.

Over the past few years, the public has expressed concern regarding the potential environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing. In response, Congress urged EPA to study the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. In February 2011, EPA published its Draft Plan to Study the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources. The SAB reviewed this report and provided advice to the EPA Administrator ( SAB Review of EPA’s Draft Hydraulic Fracturing Study Plan). EPA–SAB–11–012, available on the SAB Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/ sabproduct.nsf/ 2BC3CD632FCC0E99852578 E2006DF890/$File/EPA-SAB-11-012- unsigned.pdf ). EPA ORD is currently developing a

‘‘Progress Report: Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources, ’’ expected to be released in December 2012, which will describe the status of its research on the potential environmental and human health implications of hydraulic fracturing. EPA is seeking SAB advice on the status of the research described in its Progress Report. EPA plans to use such advice for the development of a report of results, estimated to be released in 2014, which will also be reviewed by the SAB. The SAB Staff Office is establishing an ad hoc advisory panel to provide such advice and review under the auspices of the SAB. In addition, this SAB Panel may also provide advice on other technical documents and issues related to hydraulic fracturing upon further request by EPA.

Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is seeking nominations of nationally and internationally recognized scientists and engineers having experience and expertise related to hydraulic fracturing, including but not limited to the following disciplines or areas of experience: Natural gas and petroleum engineering and geology; natural gas and petroleum well drilling, completion, testing, and closure; hydrology/hydrogeology; groundwater and surface water fate/transport modeling; geochemistry and analytical chemistry; environmental monitoring;conducting laboratory and/or fieldbased research in hydraulic fracturing; human health effects and risk assessment; civil and environmental engineering; chemical engineering; drinking water and waste water treatment systems; water quality; and statistics.

Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested person or organization may nominate qualified individuals in the areas of expertise described above. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format (preferred over hard copy) following the instructions for ‘‘Nominating Experts to Advisory Panels and Ad Hoc Committees Being Formed,’’ http:// www.epa.gov/sab provided on the SAB Web site. If you wish to nominate yourself or another expert, please follow the instructions that can be accessed through the ‘‘Nomination of Experts’’ link on the blue navigational bar at the SAB Web site http://www.epa.gov/sab. To http://www.epa.gov/ receive full consideration, nominations should include all of the information requested below.

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


### 50506 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 162 / Tuesday, August 21, 2012 / Notices

expertise of the nominee; the nominee’s resume or 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. The bio-sketches and resume or curriculum vita of nominees identified by respondents to this Federal Register notice, and additional experts identified by the SAB Staff, will be made available to the public upon request.

Persons having questions about the nomination procedures, or who are unable to submit nominations through the SAB Web site, should contact Mr. Edward Hanlon, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than September 11, 2012. 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 bio-sketches 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 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 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 forming this expert 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; (e) skills working in committees, subcommittees and advisory panels; and, (f) for the panel as a whole, 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 a 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 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: August 10, 2012. Thomas Brennan, Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.

[FR Doc. 2012–20521 Filed 8–20–12; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 6560–50–P**

**ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY** 

**[FRL 9719–8]**

**Proposed Settlement Agreement, Clean Air Act Citizen Suit** 

**AGENCY :**  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

**ACTION :**  Notice of Proposed Settlement Agreement; Request for Public Comment.

**SUMMARY :**  In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (‘‘CAA’’), 42 U.S.C. 7413(g), notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement agreement to address lawsuits filed by the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (together, ‘‘Petitioners’’) in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: Imperial County Air Pollution Control District v. EPA, No. 10–72709 (9th Cir.) and California Department of Parks and Recreation v. EPA, No. 10– 72729 (9th Cir.). Petitioners filed petitions for review challenging EPA’s final rule, approving in part and disapproving in part, a state implementation plan (‘‘SIP’’) submission made by the California Air Resources Board on behalf of the Imperial Valley Air Quality Control District. The SIP submission at issue included local pollution control measures intended to address emissions of PM 10 from sources located within the Imperial Valley Planning Area referred to as Imperial County Air Pollution Control District Rules 800 through 806 (‘‘Regulation VIII’’). The proposed settlement agreement establishes deadlines for both the Imperial Valley Air Pollution Control District and EPA to take specified actions to resolve the lawsuits.

**DATES :**  Written comments on the proposed settlement agreements must be received by September 20, 2012.

**ADDRESSES :**  Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA– HQ–OGC–2012–0644, online at www.regulations.gov (EPA’s preferred method); by email to oei.docket@epa.gov; by mail to EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460–0001; or by hand delivery or courier to EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. Comments on a disk or CD– ROM should be formatted in Word or ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption, and may be mailed to the mailing address above.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  Geoffrey L. Wilcox, Air and Radiation Law Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564–5601; fax number (202) 564–5603; email address: wilcox.geoffrey@epa.gov.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :** 

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement

The California Air Resources Board (‘‘CARB’’), on behalf of the Imperial Valley Air Polluton Control District (the ‘‘District’’), made a SIP submission to EPA containing Regulation VIII as a SIP revision intended to address emissions of PM 10 from certain sources located within the Imperial Valley PM 10 nonattainment area. EPA approved this submission in part, and disapproved it in part, based upon EPA’s evaluation of