69516 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 223 / Friday, November 17, 2000 / Notices

VI. Pre-Application Requirements,

Procedures, and Schedule

Applicants must submit a proposal for

the pre-application procedure. The preapplication, as described in this unit,

consists of two parts—a work plan and

a budget.

The Agency will use the applicant’s

work plan and budget to select projects

to be funded under this grant program.

After EPA conducts a review of all preapplications, it may, at its discretion,

conduct interviews, either

telephonically or in person, with

applicants. The results of the interview,

along with written material

accompanying the proposal submission,

will be used to determine the successful

applicant. The successful applicant will

be contacted and requested to submit

other documents (such as the

‘‘Application for Federal Assistance’’

form, a ‘‘Budget Information: NonConstruction Programs’’ form, and other

required forms) to complete the

application process.

All applicants must submit one

original and three copies of the preapplication (double-sided copies). Preapplications must be reproducible (for

example, stapled in the upper left-hand

corner, on white paper, and with page

numbers). The deadline for EPA’s

receipt of pre-applications is December

15, 2000.

The pre-application consists of the

following two parts.

1. Work plan. The work plan must

describe the proposed project. The work

plan must be no more than 15-typed

pages in length (excluding resumes).

One page is one side of a single-spaced

typed page. The pages must be letter

size (10 or 12 characters per inch (cpi)

and must have margins that are at least

1 inch.

Resumes of key personnel shall be

included in an appendix to the proposal

and should include references (names,

phone numbers or other contact

information) for previous or current

grants or contracts within the last 5

years. The appendix must be no more

than 10 pages total and follows the same

paging and spacing description as

provided above.)

2. Budget. The budget should include

the following categories of costs:

A. Personnel

B. Fringe benefits

C. Travel

D. Equipment

E. Supplies

F. Contractual

G. Other

H. Total direct charges (sum of

personnel, fringe benefits, travel,

equipment, supplies, contractual, and

other)

I. Indirect charges and total (sum of

total direct charges and indirect charges)

VII. Evaluation Criteria

EPA will review all applications.

Applications will be reviewed for

quality, strength, and completeness

against the following criteria:

1. Management plan and technical

approach. This will include, among

other things, the plan for making use of

available resources to stock the center,

plan for becoming financially selfsufficient, strategy for determining the

order of priority for introducing IPM

into various states and school districts,

etc. Applicant must include reasonable

and attainable goals and an approach

that is clearly detailed. The plan should

include expected outcomes and

procedures that will be used to evaluate

progress toward achievement of these

outcomes. Applicant should provide

information on projects of similar scope

and magnitude that he/she has

managed.

2. Technical expertise. This includes

qualifications, education, training and

field experience of all staff assigned to

the project. The applicant should

describe positions of staff, roles and

responsibilities, and their qualifications.

Applicant should include

documentation of qualified expert staff

who may be used as a reference but may

not be directly compensated.

3. Budget and schedule. This budget

and schedule will be evaluated to

ensure they are reasonable, clear, and

consistent with the intended use of the

funds. Applicants should assume that

this project will be funded for 18

months to 2 years only. The availability

of funds for additional time periods is

not known at this point in time. EPA’s

role is to provide start-up funding for

the center. It is anticipated that the

center will ultimately become selfsustaining.

VIII. Submission to Congress and the

Comptroller General

Under the Agency’s current

interpretation of the definition of a

‘‘rule,’’ grant solicitations such as this

which are competitively awarded on the

basis of selection criteria, are considered

rules for the purpose of the

Congressional Review Act (CRA). The

CRA, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by

the Small Business Regulatory

Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996

(SBREFA), generally provides that

before a rule may take effect, the agency

promulgating the rule must submit a

rule report, which includes a copy of

the rule, to each House of the Congress

and to the Comptroller General of the

United States. EPA will submit a report

containing this rule and other required

information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S.

House of Representatives, and the

Comptroller General of the United

States prior to publication of the rule in

the Federal Register. This rule is not a

‘‘major rule’’ as defined by 5 U.S.C.

804(2).

List of Subjects

Environmental protection, children’s

health, pesticides.

Dated: November 8, 2000.

Janet L. Andersen,

Director, Biopesticides and Pollution

Prevention Division, Office of Pesticide

Programs.

[FR Doc. 00–29512 Filed 11–16–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–S

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6903–6]

Investigator-Initiated Grants: Request

for Applications

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency.

ACTION: Notice of request for

applications.

SUMMARY: This notice provides

information on the availability of fiscal

year 2001 investigator-initiated grants

program announcements, in which the

areas of research interest, eligibility and

submission requirements, evaluation

criteria, and implementation schedules

are set forth. Grants will be

competitively awarded following peer

review.

DATES: Receipt dates vary depending on

the specific research areas within the

solicitations and are listed below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency,

National Center for Environmental

Research (8703R), 1200 Pennsylvania

Avenue, NW., Washington DC 20460,

telephone (800) 490–9194. The

complete announcements can be

accessed on the Internet from the EPA

home page: http://www.epa.gov/ncerqa

under ‘‘announcements.’’

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In its

Requests for Applications (RFA) the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) invites research grant

applications in the following areas of

special interest to its mission: (1)

Environmental Monitoring for Public

Access and Community Tracking

(EMPACT); (2) Children’s Vulnerability

to Toxic Substances in the Environment;

(3) Research Program on Statistical

Survey Design and Analysis for Aquatic

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 223 / Friday, November 17, 2000 / Notices 69517

Resources (joint with NASA); (4)

Aggregate Exposure Assessment for

Pesticides: Longitudinal Case Studies;

(5) Ecological Indicators for Gulf of

Mexico Estuaries; and (6)

Environmental Statistics Center.

Applications must be received as

follows: February 21, 2001, for topic (1);

February 28, 2001, for topic (2); March

1, 2001, for topic (3); March 7, 2001, for

topic (4); March 8, 2001, for topic (5);

and March 21, 2001, for topic (6).

The RFAs provide relevant

background information, summarize

EPA’s interest in the topic areas, and

describe the application and review

process.

Contact persons for the EMPACT RFA

are Barbara Karn

(karn.barbara@epa.gov), telephone 202–

564–6820, and Charlotte Cottrill

(cottrill.charlotte@epa.gov), telephone

202–564–6771. Contact person for the

Children’s Vulnerability RFA, the

Aggregate Exposure Assessment for

Pesticides RFA, and the Environmental

Statistics Center RFA is Chris Saint

(saint.chris@epa.gov), telephone 202–

564–6909. Contact persons for the

Ecological Indicators for Gulf of Mexico

Estuaries RFA are Barbara Levinson

(levinson.barbara@epa.gov), telephone

202–564–6911, and Eric Lindstrom

(elindstr@hq.nasa.gov), telephone 202–

358–4540. Contact person for the

Statistical Survey Design and Analysis

RFA is Barbara Levinson

(levinson.barbara@epa.gov), telephone

202–564–6911.

Dated: November 1, 2000.

Approved for publication

Norine E. Noonan,

Assistant Administrator for Research and

Development.

[FR Doc. 00–29505 Filed 11–16–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–U

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6903–1]

Science Advisory Board; Notification

of Public Advisory Committee Meeting

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory

Committee Act, Public Law 92–463,

notice is hereby given that the

Environmental Engineering Committee

of the US EPA Science Advisory Board

(SAB), will meet December 5–7, 2000 in

conference room 6530, USEPA, Ariel

Rios Building North, 1200 Pennsylvania

Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004.

The meeting will begin by 8:30 a.m. on

December 5 and adjourn no later than

4:00 p.m. on December 7. All times

noted are Eastern Standard Time. The

meeting is open to the public, however,

seating is limited and available on a first

come basis. Important Notice:

Documents that are the subject of SAB

reviews are normally available from the

originating EPA office and are not

available from the SAB Office—

information concerning availability of

documents from the relevant Program

Office is included below.

Purpose of the meeting: At this

meeting, the Committee will consider

for approval the report of the Natural

Attenuation Research Subcommittee.

The Subcommittee reviewed the present

and proposed natural attenuation

research program of EPA’s Office of

Research and Development (ORD) so

that ORD can refine its plans and

programs on this topic. This activity

began with a conference call meeting on

January 26th conference call meeting,

included a face-to-face meeting August

14–15, 2000; the most recent meeting

was October 25, 2000. Background,

including the availability of review

materials, will be found in previous

notices. (The most important of these is

65 FR 1866–1867, January 12, 2000).

The Committee will also consider

potential FY2001 activities. The Agency

has requested a review of the Surface

Impoundments Study for the Office of

Solid Waste and a consultation on

sustainability research for the Office of

Research and Development. The

Committee will consider whether to use

the draft report of the Science Advisory

Board’s Risk Reduction Options

Subcommittee as an input to a potential

initiative on risk reduction.

The Committee has also requested

briefings on various Agency topics. The

exact briefings depend upon the

availability of the speakers, but may

include: contaminated sediments, the

environmental impacts of natural

hazards, industrial ecology, and the

information needs of risk managers.

Availability of materials: A copy of

the Natural Attenuation draft and a draft

meeting agenda will be available on the

SAB website (www.epa.gov/sab)

approximately two weeks prior to the

meeting.

For further information: Any member

of the public wishing further

information concerning this meeting or

wishing to submit brief oral comments

(10 minutes or less) must contact

Kathleen White Conway, Designated

Federal Officer, Science Advisory Board

(1400A), U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue,

NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone

(202) 564–4559; FAX (202) 501–0582; or

via e-mail at conway.kathleen@epa.gov.

Requests for oral comments must be in

writing (e-mail, fax or mail) and

received by Kathleen White Conway no

later than noon Eastern Standard Time

on November 28.

Providing Oral or Written Comments at

SAB Meetings

It is the policy of the Science

Advisory Board to accept written public

comments of any length, and to

accommodate oral public comments

whenever possible. The Science

Advisory Board expects that public

statements presented at its meetings will

not be repetitive of previously

submitted oral or written statements.

Oral Comments: In general, each

individual or group requesting an oral

presentation at a face-to-face meeting

will be limited to a total time of ten

minutes. For teleconference meetings,

opportunities for oral comment will

usually be limited to no more than three

minutes per speaker and no more than

fifteen minutes total. Deadlines for

getting on the public speaker list for a

meeting are given above. Speakers

should bring at least 35 copies of their

comments and presentation slides for

distribution to the reviewers and public

at the meeting. Written Comments:

Although the SAB accepts written

comments until the date of the meeting

(unless otherwise stated), written

comments should be received in the

SAB Staff Office at least one week prior

to the meeting date so that the

comments may be made available to the

committee for their consideration.

Comments should be supplied to the

appropriate DFO at the address/contact

information noted above in the

following formats: one hard copy with

original signature, and one electronic

copy via e-mail (acceptable file format:

WordPerfect, Word, or Rich Text files

(in IBM-PC/Windows 95/98 format).

Those providing written comments and

who attend the meeting are also asked

to bring 25 copies of their comments for

public distribution.

General information: Additional

information concerning the Science

Advisory Board, its structure, function,

and composition, may be found on the

SAB Website (http://www.epa.gov/sab)

and in The FY1999 Annual Report of

the Staff Director which is available

from the SAB Publications Staff at (202)

564–4533 or via fax at (202) 501–0256.

Committee rosters, draft Agendas and

meeting calendars are also located on

our website.

Meeting access: Individuals requiring

special accommodation at this meeting,

including wheelchair access to the

conference room, should contact Ms.

Conway at least five business days prior

to the meeting so that appropriate

arrangements can be made.