Guidance on the Development, Evaluation and Application of Environmental Models, 47162-47164 [E8-18740]
Download as PDF
ebenthall on PRODPC60 with NOTICES
47162
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 13, 2008 / Notices
appropriated BEACH Act grant funds
above the $10 million current level.
EPA would implement this approach
by reviewing State and Territorial
spending every October 1 and adjusting
the allocation to certain States and
Territories on the basis of the funds that
these States and Territories have not yet
expended. EPA would review EPA’s
Financial Database Warehouse to
confirm the amount of outstanding
funds reported. In making this
determination, EPA will take into
account those funds that have been
committed through an appropriate State,
Territorial or Tribal contract, interagency agreement, or similar type of
binding agreement, but have not been
requested for reimbursement, i.e., that
are not showing as ‘‘drawn down’’ in
EPA’s Data Warehouse. As noted in
section III.F., EPA recognizes that States
and Territories have different financial
management systems and that those
systems could result in delayed billing
to EPA, even though the States and
Territories might have already expended
funds to monitor beaches and notify the
public. EPA also recognizes that States
and Territories typically spend the
previous year’s grant award in any given
beach season due to the timing of the
availability of BEACH Act grants in the
middle of the beach season. Therefore,
to account for these factors, EPA is
considering an approach that would
reduce the new grant award by the
amount of unexpended grant funds that
are more than three years old.
For the 2010 beach season, EPA
would review State and Territory
spending in October 2009 and
determine how much grant funding
from fiscal years 2001 to 2007 is still
unspent by each State and Territory.
EPA would identify the unspent
amounts from 2001 through 2007 in the
Financial Database Warehouse and
compare them to the amount EPA
expects to award in fiscal year 2010.
EPA would then reduce the 2010 grant
award for those States and Territories
with unobligated funds from 2001
through 2007 by the amount remaining.
For example, in 2010, consider a State
that normally receives $250,000
annually yet has $100,000 remaining
from grants awarded up to fiscal year
2007. Under the approach that EPA is
considering, EPA would reduce the
State’s grant award for the following
year’s beach season by $100,000 (the
amount the State has left unspent from
fiscal years up to 2007), thus resulting
in an award of $150,000 in 2010. The
$100,000 not awarded to the State
would be combined with unused grant
funds from other States and Territories
and re-allocated among the States and
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:38 Aug 12, 2008
Jkt 214001
Territories that have fully used their
funds from fiscal years up to 2007 using
a modified allocation formula, described
below.
EPA is considering reallocating these
additional funds according to a second,
modified allocation formula composed
of only two factors—beach miles and
beach use—to only those States and
Territories that do not have remaining
money older than three years old. EPA
is working with States and Territories to
obtain sufficient information to base a
supplemental allocation formula on
those two factors. As discussed in
Section III.B.2.a, with the help of State
and Territorial beach program managers,
EPA is compiling and quality testing
beach mile information for all the
BEACH Act States and Territories and
expects to have reliable beach mile data
on the extent of beaches by mid-2009.
EPA is also working with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to expand its research
on beach use to Great Lakes States, and
is also looking for information on beach
use in the Territories. EPA will work
with States to ensure effective
implementation of the new allocation
formula.
B. Why Isn’t EPA Amending Other Parts
of the Allocation Formula?
EPA is considering the retention of
the use of the surrogates EPA has used
for beach mileage and beach use—i.e.,
shoreline miles and coastal
population—as factors of the current
allocation formula for the first $10
million in BEACH Act grant funds. As
discussed in section III.D, States
consider their current level of BEACH
Act funding to be the financial
foundation for their beach monitoring
and notification programs. Because this
funding has been relatively stable over
the last six years, States and Territories
rely on these funds to provide them a
generally consistent level of funding for
their programs. For many States, funds
for recreational water monitoring are
limited to the amount received in
BEACH Act grant funding. Some States
have indicated to EPA that they might
choose to opt out of EPA’s BEACH Act
grant program if their grant amounts are
reduced. For these reasons, EPA is
considering retaining the use of
shoreline miles and coastal population
factors in the core allocation formula for
the first $10 million of appropriated
grant funds and not making any other
changes to this formula.
C. How Would This Change Affect
Current State Funding?
Based on grant fund use as of 2008,
EPA expects that most States and
PO 00000
Frm 00037
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Territories will not be affected in 2010
because they currently have no unused
BEACH Act grant funds that are more
than three years old. The expected
changes to the allocation formula will
affect only those States and Territories
that have unspent BEACH Act grant
funds that are more than three years old.
In 2008, only 7 States and Territories—
Alaska, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
New York, Ohio, Puerto Rico, and the
U.S. Virgin Islands—fall into this
category. As noted in Table 4, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York
all have balances of less than 1 percent
of their total BEACH Act grant funds
more than three years old. EPA
recognizes that Agency accounting
practices contributed to the remaining
balances in New Jersey and New York,
and has worked to ensure that the oldest
money is now invoiced first. Under the
process EPA is considering, should any
State or Territory in 2010 have
uninvoiced funds from FY 2001 through
FY 2007, EPA would reduce their 2010
grant funding by the amount equal to
this older money and redistribute these
funds to the other States and Territories.
D. How Would EPA Involve States in
Developing This Change?
EPA intends to reconstitute the
workgroup of EPA and State
representatives to discuss the details for
implementing this change to the
allocation formula. EPA will also invite
Territorial representatives to the
workgroup.
E. When Would This Change Become
Effective?
EPA expects that this change will be
effective for the awarding of the 2010
BEACH Act grants.
Dated: August 7, 2008.
Benjamin H. Grumbles,
Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. E8–18739 Filed 8–12–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[EPA–HQ–Docket ID No. ORD–2008–0597;
FRL–8703–4]
Guidance on the Development,
Evaluation and Application of
Environmental Models
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of public comment
period.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 30-day
public comment period for an external
review of its Guidance Document on the
E:\FR\FM\13AUN1.SGM
13AUN1
ebenthall on PRODPC60 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 13, 2008 / Notices
Development, Evaluation and
Application of Regulatory
Environmental Models (hereinafter
Guidance Document). The EPA’s
Council on Regulatory Environmental
Modeling (CREM) has developed the
Guidance Document and its companion
product, the Models Knowledge Base, to
improve the quality, consistency and
transparency of EPA models. These
products were produced in draft form in
November 2003 and have undergone a
rigorous process of internal and external
peer review. This revised draft of the
Guidance Document builds on the
recommendations of the Science
Advisory Board review panel and the
National Research Council report on
Models in Environmental Regulatory
Decision Making.
This Federal Register Notice is
intended to solicit public comment on
the Guidance Document. EPA is
releasing this external review draft
document solely for the purpose of
public comment under applicable
information quality guidelines. The
guidance document has not been
formally disseminated by EPA. It does
not represent and should not be
construed to represent any Agency
policy or determination. EPA will
consider any public comments
submitted in accordance with this
notice when revising the document.
DATES: Comments may be submitted in
writing by September 12, 2008.
ADDRESSES: The Guidance Document
may be downloaded from the CREM
Web site: https://www.epa.gov/crem.
Submit your comments, identified by
Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–ORD–2008–
0597, by one of the following methods:
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
• E-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov.
• Mail: ORD Docket, Environmental
Protection Agency, Mailcode: 28221T,
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460.
• Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center
(EPA/DC), Room 3334, EPA West
Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20460, Attention
Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–ORD–2008–
0597. Deliveries are only accepted from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, excluding legal holidays.
Special arrangements should be made
for deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to
Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–ORD–2008–
0597. EPA’s policy is that all comments
received will be included in the public
docket without change and may be
made available online at https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:38 Aug 12, 2008
Jkt 214001
personal information provided, unless
the comment includes information
claimed to be Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise
protected by statute through https://
www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The
https://www.regulations.gov Web site is
an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, which
means EPA will not know your identity
or contact information unless you
provide it in the body of your comment.
If you send an e-mail comment directly
to EPA, without going through https://
www.regulations.gov, your e-mail
address will be automatically captured
and included as part of the comment
that is placed in the public docket and
made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA
recommends that you include your
name and other contact information in
the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD–ROM you submit. If EPA
cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact
you for clarification, EPA may not be
able to consider your comment.
Electronic files should avoid the use of
special characters, any form of
encryption, and be free of any defects or
viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket
are listed in the https://
www.regulations.gov index. Although
listed in the index, some information is
not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Certain other
material, such as copyrighted material,
will be publicly available only in hard
copy. Publicly available docket
materials are available either
electronically in https://
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at
the ORD Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West,
Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave.,
NW., Washington, DC 20460. The Public
Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays. The telephone
number for the Public Reading Room is
(202) 566–1744, and the telephone
number for the ORD Docket is (202)
566–1752.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.
Noha Gaber, Council for Regulatory
Environmental Modeling, Office of the
Science Advisor, 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave, NW., Mail Code: 8105R,
Washington, DC 20460; by telephone/
voice mail at (202) 564–2179; Fax: (202)
564–2070; or via e-mail at
gaber.noha@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: To
achieve its mission of protecting human
PO 00000
Frm 00038
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
47163
health and safeguarding the natural
environment, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) often employs
mathematical models to study
environmental systems and processes
and to inform regulatory decision
making. The EPA established the
Council for Regulatory Environmental
Modeling (CREM) in 2000 in an effort to
improve the quality, consistency and
transparency of EPA models. At the
request of the EPA Administrator, the
CREM developed the Draft Guidance
Document on the Development,
Evaluation and Application of
Regulatory Environmental Models
(hereinafter Draft Models Guidance,
https://www.epa.gov/ord/crem/library/
CREM%20Guidance%
20Draft%2012_03.pdf) and the Models
Knowledge Base (hereinafter Models
KBase, https://cfpub.epa.gov/crem/
knowledge_base/knowbase.cfm)
While the Draft Models Guidance
does not impose legally binding
requirements on EPA or the public, it
provides recommendations on the
principles of good modeling practice,
stressing the importance of model
quality, documentation and
transparency with the aim of helping to
determine when and how a model can
be used to inform a decision. The Draft
Models Guidance was developed in
close collaboration with members of the
CREM, who represent the different EPA
program and regional offices, and as
such, the document represents the
consensus view among EPA offices. The
Draft Models Guidance was also
evaluated and approved by the EPA’s
Science Policy Council, the Agency’s
forum for senior level policy
deliberation and coordination on
significant science issues.
Both the Draft Models Guidance and
the Models KBase were issued in draft
form in November 2003. By providing
access to its tools and methods, the EPA
increases transparency and can improve
the public’s understanding of how
sound science is used to make
environmental decisions. In short, these
products are intended to help foster a
culture of transparency in developing
models.
In addition to internal review within
Agency offices and regions, the CREM
products have undergone an external
review process. EPA’s Science Advisory
Board (SAB) formed a CREM Guidance
Advisory Panel (hereinafter ‘‘the Panel’’)
to review the Draft Models Guidance
and the Models KBase. Specifically, the
Panel was given seven charge questions
(which can be found at this URL:
https://www.epa.gov/fedreg/EPA-SAB/
2003/August/Day-06/sab20034.htm).
The Panel concluded its review in 2006
E:\FR\FM\13AUN1.SGM
13AUN1
47164
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 13, 2008 / Notices
(the report may be found at https://
www.epa.gov/sab/panels/
cremgacpanel.html).
The CREM also commissioned the
National Academy of Science (NAS) to
assess evolving scientific and technical
issues related to the selection and use of
computational and statistical models in
decision making processes at the EPA.
The NAS report which provides advice
on the management, evaluation and use
of models at the EPA was released in
2007 (the report may be found at
https://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?
record_id=11972).
This revised draft of the Guidance
Document builds on the
recommendations of the Science
Advisory Board review panel and the
National Research Council report on
Models in Environmental Regulatory
Decision Making.
Dated: August 6, 2008.
George Gray,
EPA Science Advisor.
[FR Doc. E8–18740 Filed 8–12–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
• Mail: Submit comments to U.S. EPA
Docket Center, EPA West Room 3334,
MC 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20460, and
Phone: (202) 566–1742.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kirsten Cappel, Office of Atmospheric
Programs, Stratospheric Protection
Division, Mail Code 6205 J,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone
number: (202) 343–9556; fax number:
(202) 343–2338; e-mail address:
cappel.kirsten@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July
17, 2008, EPA published a NODA in the
Federal Register (73 FR 41076) which
contained an error in the docket
identification number. The correct
docket for submitting comments on the
NODA concerning the destruction of
ozone-depleting substances in the
United States is EPA–HQ–OAR–2006–
1030. The report that the Agency is
seeking comment on can be found in the
docket and on the Stratospheric Ozone
Protection Program Web site at https://
www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/
destruction.html.
[FRL–8703–6]
Notice of Correction to Notice of Data
Availability; Information Concerning
the Destruction of Ozone-Depleting
Substances in the United States
Dated: August 4, 2008.
Brian McLean,
Director, Office of Atmospheric Programs,
Office of Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. E8–18741 Filed 8–12–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of Correction.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
SUMMARY: On July 17, 2008, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
published a notice of data availability
(NODA) in the Federal Register (73 FR
41076) regarding information
concerning the destruction of ozonedepleting substances (ODSs) in the
United States, which inadvertently
printed an incorrect docket
identification number. This document
corrects the error made in the
identification of the docket. The correct
docket identification number is EPA–
HQ–OAR–2006–1030.
DATES: EPA will accept comments on
the report through September 15, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–
OAR–2006–1030, by one of the
following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
• E-mail: a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov.
• Fax comments to (202) 566–9744.
Notice of Receipt of a Pesticide
Petition Filed for Residues of Pesticide
Chemicals in or on Various
Commodities
ebenthall on PRODPC60 with NOTICES
AGENCY:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:38 Aug 12, 2008
Jkt 214001
[EPA–HQ–OPP–2008–0609; FRL–8377–9]
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: This notice announces the
initial filing of a pesticide petition
proposing the establishment or
modification of regulations for residues
of pesticide chemicals in or on various
commodities.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before September 12, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by docket identification (ID)
number EPA–HQ–OPP–2008–0609 and
the pesticide petition number (PP)
7F7250, by one of the following
methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
PO 00000
Frm 00039
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
• Mail: Office of Pesticide Programs
(OPP) Regulatory Public Docket (7502P),
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington,
DC 20460–0001.
• Delivery: OPP Regulatory Public
Docket (7502P), Environmental
Protection Agency, Rm. S–4400, One
Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S.
Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. Deliveries
are only accepted during the Docket
Facility’s normal hours of operation
(8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through
Friday, excluding legal holidays).
Special arrangements should be made
for deliveries of boxed information. The
Docket Facility telephone number is
(703) 305–5805.
Instructions: Direct your comments to
docket ID number EPA–HQ–OPP–2008–
0609. EPA’s policy is that all comments
received will be included in the docket
without change and may be made
available on-line at https://
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided, unless
the comment includes information
claimed to be Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise
protected through regulations.gov or email. The regulations.gov website is an
‘‘anonymous access’’ system, which
means EPA will not know your identity
or contact information unless you
provide it in the body of your comment.
If you send an e-mail comment directly
to EPA without going through
regulations.gov, your e-mail address
will be automatically captured and
included as part of the comment that is
placed in the docket and made available
on the Internet. If you submit an
electronic comment, EPA recommends
that you include your name and other
contact information in the body of your
comment and with any disk or CD-ROM
you submit. If EPA cannot read your
comment due to technical difficulties
and cannot contact you for clarification,
EPA may not be able to consider your
comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form
of encryption, and be free of any defects
or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket
are listed in the docket index available
at https://www.regulations.gov. Although
listed in the index, some information is
not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Certain other
material, such as copyrighted material,
is not placed on the Internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy
form. Publicly available docket
materials are available either in the
E:\FR\FM\13AUN1.SGM
13AUN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 13, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47162-47164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-18740]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-Docket ID No. ORD-2008-0597; FRL-8703-4]
Guidance on the Development, Evaluation and Application of
Environmental Models
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of public comment period.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for an
external review of its Guidance Document on the
[[Page 47163]]
Development, Evaluation and Application of Regulatory Environmental
Models (hereinafter Guidance Document). The EPA's Council on Regulatory
Environmental Modeling (CREM) has developed the Guidance Document and
its companion product, the Models Knowledge Base, to improve the
quality, consistency and transparency of EPA models. These products
were produced in draft form in November 2003 and have undergone a
rigorous process of internal and external peer review. This revised
draft of the Guidance Document builds on the recommendations of the
Science Advisory Board review panel and the National Research Council
report on Models in Environmental Regulatory Decision Making.
This Federal Register Notice is intended to solicit public comment
on the Guidance Document. EPA is releasing this external review draft
document solely for the purpose of public comment under applicable
information quality guidelines. The guidance document has not been
formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be
construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. EPA will
consider any public comments submitted in accordance with this notice
when revising the document.
DATES: Comments may be submitted in writing by September 12, 2008.
ADDRESSES: The Guidance Document may be downloaded from the CREM Web
site: https://www.epa.gov/crem. Submit your comments, identified by
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2008-0597, by one of the following methods:
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
E-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov.
Mail: ORD Docket, Environmental Protection Agency,
Mailcode: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), Room 3334, EPA
West Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460,
Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2008-0597. Deliveries are only
accepted from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding
legal holidays. Special arrangements should be made for deliveries of
boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2008-0597. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected by statute through https://
www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The https://www.regulations.gov Web site
is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA, without
going through https://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of
any defects or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the https://
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in https://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the ORD Docket, EPA/
DC, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC
20460. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number
for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number
for the ORD Docket is (202) 566-1752.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Noha Gaber, Council for Regulatory
Environmental Modeling, Office of the Science Advisor, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave, NW., Mail Code: 8105R, Washington, DC 20460; by
telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-2179; Fax: (202) 564-2070; or via e-
mail at gaber.noha@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: To achieve its mission of protecting human
health and safeguarding the natural environment, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) often employs mathematical models to study
environmental systems and processes and to inform regulatory decision
making. The EPA established the Council for Regulatory Environmental
Modeling (CREM) in 2000 in an effort to improve the quality,
consistency and transparency of EPA models. At the request of the EPA
Administrator, the CREM developed the Draft Guidance Document on the
Development, Evaluation and Application of Regulatory Environmental
Models (hereinafter Draft Models Guidance, https://www.epa.gov/ord/crem/
library/CREM%20Guidance%20Draft%2012_03.pdf) and the Models Knowledge
Base (hereinafter Models KBase, https://cfpub.epa.gov/crem/knowledge_
base/knowbase.cfm)
While the Draft Models Guidance does not impose legally binding
requirements on EPA or the public, it provides recommendations on the
principles of good modeling practice, stressing the importance of model
quality, documentation and transparency with the aim of helping to
determine when and how a model can be used to inform a decision. The
Draft Models Guidance was developed in close collaboration with members
of the CREM, who represent the different EPA program and regional
offices, and as such, the document represents the consensus view among
EPA offices. The Draft Models Guidance was also evaluated and approved
by the EPA's Science Policy Council, the Agency's forum for senior
level policy deliberation and coordination on significant science
issues.
Both the Draft Models Guidance and the Models KBase were issued in
draft form in November 2003. By providing access to its tools and
methods, the EPA increases transparency and can improve the public's
understanding of how sound science is used to make environmental
decisions. In short, these products are intended to help foster a
culture of transparency in developing models.
In addition to internal review within Agency offices and regions,
the CREM products have undergone an external review process. EPA's
Science Advisory Board (SAB) formed a CREM Guidance Advisory Panel
(hereinafter ``the Panel'') to review the Draft Models Guidance and the
Models KBase. Specifically, the Panel was given seven charge questions
(which can be found at this URL: https://www.epa.gov/fedreg/EPA-SAB/
2003/August/Day-06/sab20034.htm). The Panel concluded its review in
2006
[[Page 47164]]
(the report may be found at https://www.epa.gov/sab/panels/
cremgacpanel.html).
The CREM also commissioned the National Academy of Science (NAS) to
assess evolving scientific and technical issues related to the
selection and use of computational and statistical models in decision
making processes at the EPA. The NAS report which provides advice on
the management, evaluation and use of models at the EPA was released in
2007 (the report may be found at https://www.nap.edu/
catalog.php?record_id=11972).
This revised draft of the Guidance Document builds on the
recommendations of the Science Advisory Board review panel and the
National Research Council report on Models in Environmental Regulatory
Decision Making.
Dated: August 6, 2008.
George Gray,
EPA Science Advisor.
[FR Doc. E8-18740 Filed 8-12-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P