A Report of the Science Advisory Board Staff Office

Advisory Committee Meetingsand Report Development:Process for Public Involvement

Foreword

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) relies on the independent expert advice and counsel from its

federal advisory committees to strengthen the scientific and technical bases for Agency actions in the pursuit

of protecting human health and the environment. Advisory committee meetings and the preparation of a

final report are among the key steps in the process of developing advice. The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB)

Staff Office manages three federal advisory committees that report directly to the EPA Administrator — the

Science Advisory Board (SAB), the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), and the Advisory Council

on Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council). This pamphlet has been developed by the SAB Staff Office to

provide information about how these committees work and how the public can participate in advisory meet-

ings and report development.

Agency policy and the laws directing the establishment of these committees not only allow but also encour-

age public involvement. The Staff Office hopes that this pamphlet helps members of the public provide

effective input into the activities of these EPA advisory bodies.

Vanessa T. Vu, Ph.D.

Director, SAB Staff Office

The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB), the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), andthe Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council) welcome public involvement.

As the SAB Staff Office explains in detail in this pamphlet, to participate in activities you can do one ormore of the following:

• Contact the appropriate Designated Federal Officer (DFO) or the SAB Staff Office to obtain informationon or provide comments about committee activities.

• Attend and observe public meetings and teleconferences.• Review materials used by committee members in their deliberations.• Provide written comments for consideration by committee members.• Present oral statements for consideration by committee members at public meetings during time periods

set aside for that purpose.• Review minutes of committee meetings and teleconferences.

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Introduction

The federal advisory committeesadministered by the SAB StaffOffice provide important scientif-ic advice to help EPA meet its mis-sion. Public involvement assiststhe committees in their work byimproving the clarity of commit-tee decisions and pointing outpossible factual errors and alter-native scientific interpretationsthat might have been overlooked.Public involvement also ensuresconfidence that the advisory com-mittee decisions are objective andcomprehensive. The currentpractices of the advisory commit-tees and their subcommittees andpanels described here aredesigned to enable the public tocontribute to this process.

About the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA)Science Advisory Board StaffOffice and the federal advisorycommittees that it supports

The Science Advisory Board (SAB)Staff Office performs manage-ment and administrative func-tions and provides technicalassistance to three EPA federaladvisory committees — theScience Advisory Board (SAB), theClean Air Scientific AdvisoryCommittee (CASAC), and theAdvisory Council on Clean AirCompliance Analysis (Council).

The SAB was established in 1978under the Environmental

Research, Development, andDemonstration Authorization Act(ERDDAA) [42 U.S.C. § 4365] toprovide independent advice andpeer review on the scientific andtechnical aspects of environmen-tal problems and issues as request-ed by the EPA Administrator, or bythe Congress through theAdministrator. Most (though notall) preliminary work of the SAB isdone by subcommittees or panelsfocused on various environ-mental science topics and chairedby Board members.Recommendations of subcommit-tees and panels are transmitted tothe Board for discussion and delib-eration. Recommendations areforwarded to EPA only if the Boarddetermines that it is appropriate.

The CASAC was established in1977 under the Clean Air Act(CAA) Amendments of 1977 (see42 U.S.C. § 7409(d)(2)) to provideadvice, information, and recom-mendations to the Administratoron the scientific and technicalaspects of issues related to the cri-teria for air quality standards,research related to air quality,sources of air pollution, and thestrategies to attain and maintainair quality standards and to pre-vent significant deterioration ofair quality.

The Council was established in1990 pursuant to the CAAAmendments of 1990 (see 42U.S.C. § 7612) to provide advice,information, and recommenda-

tions on technical and economicaspects of analyses and reportsEPA prepares concerning theimpacts of the CAA on the publichealth, economy, and environ-ment of the United States.

These committees exist primarilyto provide expert outside adviceto the Administrator and they aresubject to the Federal AdvisoryCommittee Act (FACA). Thisstatute provides for publicinvolvement in committee activi-ties, primarily by means of openaccess to meetings and recordsand by providing the public theopportunity to submit commentsto the committee.

The Staff Office manages EPArequests for advice and peerreview and provides technicalassistance to these advisory com-mittees in conducting meetingsand preparing reports. Under theterms of FACA, the Staff Office isresponsible for ensuring that themembership of these committeesis balanced in the points of viewrepresented for the function thecommittee is to perform.

For the advisory committees sup-ported by the SAB Staff Office, abalanced committee, subcom-mittee, or panel is characterizedby inclusion of the necessarydomains of knowledge, the rele-vant scientific perspectives (which,among other factors can be influ-enced by work history and affilia-tion), and the collective breadth

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Commentary—A short commu-nication issued primarily by theSAB that provides unsolicitedadvice about an important tech-nical issue.

Other activities—The SAB,CASAC, and Council, and theirsubcommittees often receiveinformation briefings from theAgency. Periodically, the SABconducts scientific workshops andperforms original studies asdeemed appropriate or requestedby the Agency. The SAB, CASAC,and Council conduct reviews ofand approve final reports of theirsubcommittees or panels prior totransmittal to the Administrator.

General order of business ata public advisory committeemeeting or teleconference

The SAB, CASAC, and Council andtheir subcommittees and panelsgenerally discuss their advice andrecommendations in response tocharge questions from the Agencyat a face-to-face meeting. Theymay conduct teleconferences asthey prepare and plan for the face-to-face meeting or conduct follow-up discussions and review of draftreports. Except for relatively sim-ple issues, it is likely that delibera-tions on the charge questions mayrequire more than one meeting orpublic teleconference. The agendaof each public session is availableon the SAB website(www.epa.gov/sab) before the

meeting or teleconference.Minutes of each meeting, ap-proved by the committee chair asrequired by FACA, are placed onthe SAB website and made publiclyavailable within ninety calendardays after the meeting takes place.

All meetings subject to FACA areformally convened by theDesignated Federal Officer (DFO)who is a member of the SAB StaffOffice with technical expertiserelated to the area of the commit-tee’s or subcommittee’s responsibil-ity. The DFO makes a statementcertifying that the membership isin compliance with federal ethicsand conflict-of-interest laws, andintroduces the chair and membersof the committee, subcommittee,or panel. The chair makes someintroductory remarks, reviews themeeting agenda, and commenceswith the business of the meeting.

At initial meetings of a particularadvisory activity, EPA representa-tives may make a brief presenta-tion on the subject matter of themeeting and the charge ques-tions. Oral statements from mem-bers of the public usually will beheard during a specific publiccomment portion of the meeting,and there may be an opportunityfor a brief interchange of ques-tions between public presentersand the members of the commit-tee, subcommittee, or panel. Thecommittee, subcommittee, orpanel then conducts its delibera-tions on the charge questions.

of experience to address thecharge adequately. These com-mittees are technical advisorybodies, not committees designed toreflect stakeholder views.

In addition, the Staff Office isresponsible for keeping the publicinformed of the advisory activitiesof these committees, for ensuringthat the committees conduct advi-sory activities in public, and forproviding the public an opportu-nity to provide input during theadvisory process.

Advisory activities

The SAB, CASAC, and Councilprovide advice to the Agency bymeans of:

Consultation—A public sessionin which a panel of knowledge-able experts discusses a technicaltopic before the Agency beginssubstantive work on that particu-lar subject.

Advisory—A report summarizingthe deliberations of one or morepublic sessions in which panelmembers provide advice on tech-nical issues during the period inwhich the Agency is developingits position on a topic.

Peer review—A report summariz-ing the deliberations of one ormore public sessions in whichpanel members review a complet-ed Agency product.

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Role of key participants

The Designated Federal Officer(DFO) is responsible for ensuringthat the legal requirements ofFACA are met. The DFO, in con-sultation with the chair of thecommittee, subcommittee, orpanel, develops the agenda forthe meeting. The DFO’s responsi-bilities also include:

• Arranging for meetings to beopen to the public at reason-ably accessible and convenientlocations and convenient times;

• Ensuring that advance notice ofthe meeting is published in theFederal Register;

• Making available for publicinspection and copying (subjectto the Freedom of InformationAct) documents and othermaterials prepared by or for thecommittee, subcommittee, orpanel or presented to it (includ-ing minutes of the meeting);

• Convening each meeting andadjourning the meeting aftercompletion of the agenda orwhen it is determined to be inthe public interest to do so;

• Serving as the point of contactbetween members of the publicand members of the commit-tee, subcommittee, or panel.

It should be noted that althoughthe DFO assists the committee in

the preparation of documents andreports, the advice and recommen-dations contained in those materi-als are solely the responsibility ofthe committee, subcommittee, orpanel.

The Chair of the committee, sub-committee, or panel presides afterthe DFO convenes the meeting andinforms the public of key depar-tures from the agenda if there areany. The chair sets the groundrules for public participation at themeeting in accordance with EPAFACA policy, the agenda, and thenature of the advisory meeting.The chair assigns members of thecommittee, subcommittee, orpanel as discussion leaders for spe-cific charge questions. The chairconcludes the meeting with a sum-mary of its major outcomes — theareas of consensus, the areaswhere there are different viewsamong the members, the majorviews expressed, and key follow-upsteps. After the meeting, the chaircertifies that meeting minutes arecomplete and accurate and isresponsible for coordinating thewriting of the report (or delegatingthe task to another member). Thechair acts as a spokesperson for theentire committee, subcommittee,or panel.

Members of the committee, sub-committee, or panel (includingthe chair) consider Agency pre-sentations, public comments, andbackground material on the sub-ject and then deliberate and pro-

Public input can provide:• Short oral statements

• Specific written comments• Scientific or technical information

• Clarification on issues

Committees provide toEPA Administrator:

• Scientific and technical peer reviews• Independent advice

• Credible scientific information• Scientific and technical advice

on agency-related policy decisions

Science Advisory BoardStaff Office

EPA Administrator

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CASACClean AirScientificAdvisory

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vide advice. Members have theshared responsibility of writingthe report that summarizes theresults of their deliberations.

Representatives of EPA officesprovide briefings on scientificissues and how these issues affectAgency decisions. They are aresource for the panel membersand answer questions about rele-vant Agency programs and policy.

Members of the public attend themeeting both as presenters ofstatements they wish to be consid-ered by the committee, subcom-mittee, or panel and as membersof the audience to observe the pro-ceedings. All questions, com-ments, requests, and other interac-tions between the members of thepublic and members of the com-mittee, subcommittee, or panel aremade through the DFO.

Deliberations andreport development

Ideally, the deliberative processshould converge on some sort ofconsensus conclusion. Consensuscan be described as a decisionthat all of the members of thecommittee, subcommittee, orpanel can accept. At times it maynot be possible to form a consen-sus, and discussion will reveal therange of views held by members.Where consensus is not reached,the major substantive areas ofagreement and disagreement arecaptured in the final report.

Report preparation is a collabora-tive process. Individual membersof a committee, subcommittee, orpanel may write chapters or sec-tions, which will then be integrat-ed into a cohesive report by thechair with the assistance of theDFO. The details of the processmay vary among the committees,but the author of record is theentire committee, subcommittee,or panel, not any particular indi-vidual member.

As the report is being developed,the members who are writing sec-tions may communicate witheach other through the DFO.Copies of this correspondence areretained by the DFO in the officialfile. In addition, at every majorstage of report development, apublic draft copy of the report isposted on the SAB website. Publiccomments on the draft report arewelcome at all stages during thepreparation and approval of thereport. A chartered committeereviews and approves reports pre-pared by its subcommittees orpanels. Reports are reviewed andapproved in a public forum. Afterthe authors address suggestionsraised by this review, the report isfinalized. After approval, the SABStaff Office will transmit the reportto the EPA Administrator andmake it available to the public onthe SAB website.

Questions and answers aboutpublic involvement in SAB,CASAC, and Council advisorymeetings and reportdevelopment

Why should I be interested inthe activities of the SAB,CASAC, and Council?If you are concerned with theactions of EPA, you will be inter-ested in the advice and recom-mendations of these EPA advisorycommittees. From the highestlevel down, EPA is committed torelying on credible scientific infor-mation as a basis for its actions.The advice and recommendationsof these EPA scientific advisorycommittees are an important fac-tor the Agency considers whenmaking policy decisions.

How can I enable theadvisory committees toconsider my views?You are entitled, by law, toobserve advisory activities of theSAB, CASAC, and Council—including their face-to-face meet-ings and teleconferences. Inaddition, by EPA policy you mayobserve activities of subcommit-tees and panels. As requiredunder FACA, meetings of char-tered committees are open to thepublic unless the Administrator(in the case of EPA) determinesthat a meeting or portion of ameeting may be closed to thepublic for the reasons enumerat-ed in the Government in theSunshine Act (5 United States

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Code § 552b). You are also enti-tled to submit comments for con-sideration by these committees.

EPA’s Public Involvement Policy,which can be found atwww.epa.gov/publicinvolvement,is designed to provide guidance toEPA staff and program managerson methods that ensure effectiveand useful public involvement.The SAB Staff Office works to meetEPA’s public involvement goals inthe management of its advisorycommittees by providing timely,accessible, and accurate informa-tion about meetings and includ-ing consideration of public com-ments in the advisory process.

Public involvement in the adviso-ry committees managed by theSAB Staff Office has a slightly dif-ferent emphasis than involvementfor EPA program offices. Programmanagers consider scientific, tech-nical, economic, policy, and politi-cal issues when making decisionsand appreciate public commentsthat address these issues. Adviceand recommendations by mem-bers of the SAB, CASAC, andCouncil, on the other hand, arefocused on scientific and technicalissues related to the charge ques-tions. Thus, input from the publicto these advisory committees andtheir subcommittees and panelswill have the most impact if it con-sists of comments that provide spe-cific scientific or technical informa-tion or analysis for the committee,subcommittee, or panel to consid-

er, or if it relates to the clarity oraccuracy of the recommendationsbeing considered.

If, after considering the subject ofthe meeting, you wish to raise ascientific issue to the attention ofmembers of a committee, sub-committee, or panel, you mayprepare a public comment. It isbest to submit written commentsin advance of the meetingbecause those comments will beavailable to the members beforeand during deliberations. Theearlier comments are received,the more opportunity the mem-bers will have to consider themprior to the meeting. You maywish to provide a short oral state-ment summarizing your writtencomments or an oral presenta-tion of comments that you havenot submitted in written form. Itis also a good idea to bring extracopies of your written commentsor a written summary of youroral comments to pass out at themeeting.

How do I find out how to partic-ipate in upcoming advisoryactivities?The first place to look is at theSAB website (www.epa.gov/sab).The website includes descriptionsof each advisory activity, infor-mation about the formation ofthe panels and subcommitteesproviding advice, links to theFederal Register notice for publicmeetings or teleconferences con-ducted for advisory activities, the

names and contact informationfor the responsible DFOs, andlinks to relevant backgroundmaterials. It may also includelinks to other committee docu-ments. Documents, whether ornot posted on the website, can berequested (subject to the limita-tions of the Freedom ofInformation Act) from the DFO.The Federal Register notices gen-erally provide a description of theissue being considered by com-mittees, subcommittees, or pan-els, a listing of the charge ques-tions, and ground rules anddetailed instructions on how tosubmit public comments. Insome cases, references to back-ground material are also provid-ed in the notice.

All public involvement related tothe work of committees, subcom-mittees, or panels is arrangedthrough the DFO, and individualadvisory members should not becontacted directly. For more gen-eral information, the SAB StaffOffice can be contacted directlyby telephone at 202-343-9999.

United StatesEnvironmentalProtection Agency

EPA Science AdvisoryBoard (1400F)Washington DC

EPA-SABSO-04-001September 2004www.epa.gov/sab

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For more information, please contact the SAB Staff Officedirectly at 202-343-9999 or visit www.epa.gov/sab.