%	*	OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR
SCIENCE ADviSORY BOARD
%*o<^
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON D.C. 20460
December 20, 2016
EPA-SAB-17-002
The Honorable Gina McCarthy
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20460
Subject: Review of conclusions in Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems: a Report by the
Science Advisory Board
Dear Administrator McCarthy:
The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) recently concluded a review of the information and analyses
used to support the conclusions in the 2011 SAB report, Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems: a
Report by the EPA Science Advisory Board to determine if a correction to the report was required. The
SAB determined that no correction to the 2011 report is required.
In July 2016, the SAB convened a Work Group to respond to inquiries from some members of the
former Ecological Processes and Effects Committee Augmented for the Ballast Water Advisory and a
current SAB member that conclusions in the report required correction. This Work Group operated
under the auspices of the chartered SAB to review the conclusions and the information and analyses
used to support the conclusions in the 2011 SAB report. The Work Group presented its
recommendations in a memorandum1 distributed to the Board and posted on the SAB website for its
November 30, 2016 meeting. In reaching its conclusions, the Work Group considered: the Ballast Water
Report; supporting materials available to the former Panel; Ballast Water Panel meeting minutes; public
comments submitted to the former Panel; and materials and oral responses provided during a public fact-
finding teleconference2 conducted by the Work Group. The Work Group found that the issue represents
a difference in opinion over interpretation of data, not an indication of error.
1	Recommendations regarding ballast water treatment efficacy and conclusions in the 2011 SAB report, Efficacy of Ballast
Water Treatment Systems: a Report by the EPA Science Advisory Board. Available at:
https://yosemite.epa. gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/lB1228EC34C77C81852580600070F92D/$File/EPA+BW+Work+Group+Mem
orandum+10+28+2016final+.pdf
2	SAB Work Group fact finding regarding data and conclusions on ballast water treatment efficacy in the 2011 SAB report,
Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems: a Report by the EPA Science Advisory. Available at:
Bohttps://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/a84bfeel6cc358ad85256ccd006b0b4b/2bf6e4715508b06785257fe9004f819f!
OpenDocument&Date=2016-08-12

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The SAB discussed the Work Group's recommendations and finds that the conclusions about shipboard
treatment efficacy in the SAB report, Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems: a Report by the
Science Advisory Board, were supported by the data that were provided to the former Panel. Further, the
SAB finds that the conclusions in the 2011 report were supported by the analyses conducted by the
former Panel, and these analyses were documented in the Ballast Water Report. In reaching this
determination, the SAB considered the Work Group's analyses, the recommendations in the
memorandum, and the discussion among Board members at the November 30, 2016, meeting. The SAB
did not seek new data regarding ballast water treatment system efficacy, nor was any new data reviewed
by the Work Group or the SAB.
In summation, the SAB concludes the Ballast Water Report does not contain a substantial scientific
error. The SAB finds that the report, Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems: a Report by the
Science Advisory Board, presents sound scientific judgements using appropriate analyses and reasonable
interpretation of the data available to the authoring panel.
Sincerely,
/signed/
Dr. Peter S. Thorne, Chair
Science Advisory Board
Enclosure
Roster of SAB Members

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NOTICE
This report has been written as part of the activities of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB), a public
advisory group providing extramural scientific information and advice to the Administrator and other
officials of the Environmental Protection Agency. The SAB is structured to provide balanced, expert
assessment of scientific matters related to problems facing the Agency. This report has not been
reviewed for approval by the Agency and, hence, the contents of this report do not necessarily represent
the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor of other agencies in the Executive
Branch of the Federal government, nor does mention of trade names of commercial products constitute a
recommendation for use. Reports of the SAB are posted on the EPA Web site at
http://www.epa.gov/sab.

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Science Advisory Board
BOARD
CHAIR
Dr. Peter S. Thorne, Professor and Head, Department of Occupational & Environmental Health, College
of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
MEMBERS
Dr. Joseph Arvai, Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise and Director, Erb Institute, School
of Natural Resources & Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Dr. Kiros T. Berhane, Professor, Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Sylvie M. Brouder, Professor and Wickersham Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Research,
Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Dr. Ingrid Burke, Director and Wyoming Excellence Chair, Haub School and Ruckelshaus Institute of
Environment and Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
Dr. Ana V. Diez Roux, Dean, School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
Also Member: CASAC
Dr. Michael Dourson, Director, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment Center, Professor of
Environmental Health, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Dr. Joel J. Ducoste, Professor, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering,
College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Dr. David A. Dzombak, Hamerschlag University Professor and Department Head, Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. Susan P. Felter, Research Fellow, Global Product Stewardship, Procter & Gamble, Mason, OH
Dr. R. William Field, Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, and Department
of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Dr. H. Christopher Frey, Glenn E. Futrell Distinguished University Professor, Department of Civil,
Construction and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, NC
Dr. Steven Hamburg, Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund, Boston, MA

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Dr. Cynthia M. Harris, Director and Professor, Institute of Public Health, Florida A&M University,
Tallahassee, FL
Dr. Robert J. Johnston, Director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute and Professor, Department of
Economics, Clark University, Worcester, MA
Dr. Kimberly L. Jones, Professor and Chair, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Howard University, Washington, DC
Dr. Catherine J. Karr, Associate Professor - Pediatrics and Environmental and Occupational Health
Sciences and Director - NW Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, University of Washington,
Seattle, WA
Dr. Madhu Khanna, ACES Distinguished Professor in Environmental Economics, Department of
Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
Dr. Francine Laden, Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental Epidemiology,
Harvard School of Public Health, and Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's
Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Dr. Lois Lehman-McKeeman, Distinguished Research Fellow, Discovery Toxicology, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Princeton, NJ
Dr. Robert E. Mace, Deputy Executive Administrator, Water Science & Conservation, Texas Water
Development Board, Austin, TX
Dr. Mary Sue Marty, Senior Toxicology Leader, Toxicology & Environmental Research , The Dow
Chemical Company, Midland, MI
Dr. Denise Mauzerall, Professor, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Dr. Kristina D. Mena, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental
Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, El Paso, TX
Dr. Surabi Menon, Director of Research, ClimateWorks Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Dr. James R. Mihelcic, Samuel L. and Julia M. Flom Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering,
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Dr. H. Keith Moo-Young, Chancellor, Office of Chancellor, Washington State University, Tri-Cities,
Richland, WA

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Dr. Kari Nadeau, Naddisy Family Foundation Professor of Medicine, Director, FARE Center of
Excellence at Stanford University and , Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at,
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
Dr. James Opaluch, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and Natural Resource
Economics, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Dr. Thomas F. Parkerton, Senior Environmental Associate, Toxicology & Environmental Science
Division, ExxonMobil Biomedical Science, Houston, TX
Mr. Richard L. Poirot, Independent Consultant, Burlington, VT
Dr. Kenneth M. Portier, Vice President, Department of Statistics & Evaluation Center, American Cancer
Society, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Kenneth Ramos, Associate Vice-President of Precision Health Sciences and Professor of Medicine,
Arizona Health Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Dr. David B. Richardson, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Dr. Tara L. Sabo-Attwood, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and Global
Health, College of Public Health and Health Professionals, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Dr. William Schlesinger, President Emeritus, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY
Dr. Gina Solomon, Deputy Secretary for Science and Health, Office of the Secretary, California
Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, CA
Dr. Daniel O. Stram, Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Division of Biostatistics, University
of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Jay Turner, Associate Professor, Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering,
Campus Box 1180, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Dr. Edwin van Wijngaarden, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences, School of
Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Dr. Jeanne M. VanBriesen, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. John Vena, Professor and Founding Chair, Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University
of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
Dr. Elke Weber, Jerome A. Chazen Professor of International Business, Columbia Business School, New
York, NY

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Dr. Charles Werth, Professor and Bettie Margaret Smith Chair in Environmental Health Engineering,
Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering,
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Dr. Peter J. Wilcoxen, Professor, Public Administration and International Affairs, The Maxwell School,
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Dr. Robyn S. Wilson, Associate Professor, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State
University, Columbus, OH
SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD STAFF
Mr. Thomas Carpenter, Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Washington, DC

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