EPA issues Request for Nominations of Experts to Provide Scientific & Technical Advice related to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Notices]             
[Page 32769-32770]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09jn10-52]                       

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9160-6]

 
Science Advisory Board Staff Office; Request for Nominations of
Experts to Provide Scientific and Technical Advice Related to the Gulf
of Mexico Oil Spill

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of request for nominations.

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SUMMARY: The Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is requesting
public nominations of experts to serve on potential workgroups or
panels to advise the Agency on scientific and technical issues related
to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.

DATES: Nominations should be submitted by June 24, 2010 per
instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing
further information regarding this Request for Nominations may contact
Ms. Stephanie Sanzone, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), EPA Science
Advisory Board (1400F), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20460; via telephone/voice mail (202) 343-9697; by fax at (202) 233-
0643; or via e-mail at sanzone.stephanie@epa.gov. General information
concerning the EPA Science Advisory Board can be found on the EPA SAB
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    The SAB was established by 42 U.S.C. 4365 to provide independent
scientific and technical advice, consultation, and recommendations to
the EPA Administrator on the technical basis for Agency positions and
regulations. As announced previously Federal Register, May 19, 2010,
Volume 75, Number 96, Page 28009), the SAB may be asked to provide
advice on a range of scientific and technical issues related to the
Gulf of Mexico oil spill. To expand the pool of experts available to
serve as SAB consultants, the SAB Staff Office is seeking public
nominations of nationally recognized experts for potential service on
SAB workgroups, panels or committees to provide advice on this critical
matter. The advice will assist the Agency in developing and
implementing timely and scientifically appropriate responses to oil
spill contamination in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Gulf Coast. All
SAB advisory activities generally comply with the provisions of the
Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). As announced previously (Federal
Register, May 19, 2010, Volume 75, Number 96, Page 28009), critical
mission and schedule requirements may preclude the full 15 days notice
in the Federal Register prior to advisory meetings, pursuant to the
final rule on Federal Advisory Committee Management codified at 41 CFR
102-3.150. However, information on Gulf of Mexico oil spill meetings,
as well as experts selected for service will be posted on the SAB Web
site at http://www.epa.gov/sab as they are available. Nominees will be
invited to serve based on: Scientific and technical expertise,
knowledge, and experience; availability and willingness to serve;
absence of financial conflicts of interest; and scientific credibility
and impartiality.
    Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is requesting
nominations of nationally and internationally recognized experts with
demonstrated research or operational experience assessing the
environmental impacts and associated mitigation of impacts due to oil
spills, oil products, oil constituents, and dispersants in air and
water (including wetlands) media. Appropriate expertise may include one
or more of the following disciplines: Chemistry; fate, transport and
exposure assessment; toxicology; public health; ecology; ecotoxicology;
risk assessment; engineering; and economics.
    Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals for possible
service in the areas of expertise described above. Self-nominations are
encouraged. 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 vitae; sources of recent grants and/or contracts;
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 Ms. Sanzone, DFO as indicated above in this notice. Nominations
should be submitted in time to arrive no later than June 24, 2010. EPA
values and welcomes diversity. In an effort to obtain nominations of
diverse candidates, EPA encourages

[[Page 32770]]

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 the Federal Register notice and additional experts
identified by the SAB Staff will be posted on the SAB Web site at
http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on this List of Candidates will
be accepted for 15 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, may be influenced by work history and affiliation), and the
collective breadth of experience to adequately address the charge. In
establishing workgroups, the SAB Staff Office will consider 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 advisory committees and panels for the Panel as a
whole, and (f) diversity of and balance among scientific 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 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: June 1, 2010.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-13858 Filed 6-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P

Special thanks to Richard Charter

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