"Schwab, Margo" <Margo_Schwab@omb.eop.gov> 

07/13/2007 02:30 PM

	

To

Marjorie Jones/RTP/USEPA/US@EPA

cc

Ron Evans/RTP/USEPA/US@EPA, "Johansson, Robert"
<Robert_C._Johansson@omb.eop.gov>

Subject

RE: Your proposed footnote language on PM expert elicitation









 

Marjorie: Here is the UVB 1st paragraph, as requested.

Atmospheric ozone absorbs a harmful band of ultraviolet radiation from

the sun called UV-B, providing a protective shield to the Earth's

surface.  The majority of this protection occurs in the stratosphere

where 90% of atmospheric ozone is located.  The remaining 10% of the

Earth's ozone is present at ground level (referred to as tropospheric

ozone) (NAS, 1991; NASA ).  Only  a portion of the tropospheric fraction

of UV-B shielding is from anthropogenic sources (e.g., power plants,

byproducts of combustion). The portion of ground level ozone associated

with anthropogenic sources varies by locality and over time.  Even so,

it is reasonable to assume that reductions in ground level ozone would

lead to increases in the same health effects linked to in UV-B

exposures.  These effects include fatal and nonfatal melanoma and

non-melanoma skin cancers and cataracts.   The values of $15,000 per

case for non-fatal melanoma skin cancer, $5,000 per case for non-fatal

non-melanoma skin cancer, and $15,000 per case of cataracts have been

used in analyses of stratospheric ozone depletion (U.S. EPA, 1999.

Fatal cancers are valued using standard VSL estimates.  UV-B has also

been linked to ecological effects including damage to crops and forest.

For a more complete listing of quantified and unquantified UV-B

radiation effects, see Table G-4 and G-7 in the Benefits and Costs of

the Clean Air Act, 1990-2010 (U.S. EPA, 1999.  UV-B related health

effects are also discussed in the context of stratospheric ozone in a

2006 report by ICF Consulting, prepared for the U.S. EPA .

Margo Schwab

 

Statistical and Science Policy

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

Email:  mschwab@omb.eop.gov

Phone:  202 395 5647

-----Original Message-----

From: Jones.Marjorie@epamail.epa.gov

[mailto:Jones.Marjorie@epamail.epa.gov] 

Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 1:00 PM

To: Johansson, Robert

Cc: Schwab, Margo; Evans.Ron@epamail.epa.gov;

Conner.Lisa@epamail.epa.gov

Subject: Your proposed footnote language on PM expert elicitation 

Margo/Rob:

Attached below, pls find Lisa Conner's recommended edits to the language

you asked us to add to the footnote.

Our question about the last sentence is:  why is it needed?

FN #3: As discussed in Chapter 6, one way in which we characterize the

model uncertainty associated with the relationship between particulate

matter and premature mortality was to conduct an expert elicitation.

The elicitation yielded twelve different functions, generated by asking

12 experts a structured set of questions, leading each to articulate a

functional form for the relationship, in a probabilistic estimate of

uncertainty.  Among the twelve experts, Expert K's function

characterizes the weakest relationship between PM and premature

mortality, whereas Expert E's function characterizes the strongest

relationship.

Marjorie C. Jones

Office of Air Quality Planning & Standards Air Benefit and Cost Group,

Mail Code C439-02 Health and Environmental Impacts Division RTP, NC

27711

voice: (919) 541-2508

fax:     (919) 541-0839

Shipping/receiving: 4930 Old Page Rd.

Durham, NC 27709

