A comprehensive peer review plan in accordance with new federal peer review requirements was developed and approved in February 2006. This plan is available upon request, and will soon be posted on the MD DNR webpage.

PEER REVIEW PLAN: The following peer review plan was prepared to comply with the “Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review” issued by the Office of Management and Budget (hereafter to as the “OMB Bulletin”) on December 16, 2004. This OMB Bulletin has subsequently been incorporated into the USACE Engineering Circular No. 1105-2-408 “Peer Review of Decision Documents”. The purpose of this peer review plan is to ensure that the quality of scientific information that supports findings or conclusions representing the official position of one or more agencies of the federal government meets the standards of the scientific and technical community.

The OMB Bulletin applies to “influential scientific information” and “highly influential scientific assessments”. Influential scientific information is defined as scientific information that the agency can reasonably determine to have or does have a clear and substantial impact on important public policies or private sector decisions. Highly influential scientific assessment is defined as an evaluation of a body of scientific or technical knowledge, which typically synthesizes multiple factual inputs, data, models, assumptions, and/or applies best professional judgment to bridge uncertainties in the available information.

Under the OMB Bulletin, agencies are granted broad discretion to weigh the benefits and costs of using a particular peer review mechanism for a specific information product. The selection of an appropriate peer review mechanism for “influential scientific information” is left to the agency’s discretion. For “highly influential scientific assessments”, the OMB Bulletin requires a more rigorous peer review and stricter minimum requirements.

Even though this EIS was initiated in advance of the OMB Bulletin, the involved agencies developed peer review practices to achieve the highest levels of both scientific and process integrity. A description of the initial peer review process was included in the Project Management Plan of the signed Cost-Sharing Agreement between the co-lead Federal and State agencies. It was later determined that the scientific information and assessments supporting this EIS were applicable to the December 16, 2005 OMB Bulletin on peer review.

Modifications to the peer review process described in the Project Management Plan of the signed Cost-Sharing Agreement were made in collaboration with the Project Delivery Team (PDT) consisting of representatives of the lead and cooperating agencies, as well as the Potomac River Fisheries Commission (PRFC) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). The involved agencies also consulted with the National Academy of Sciences, as well as scientists from the University of Maryland and Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences. The final OMB peer review plan is fully described within this document.

The peer review plan for this EIS first identifies whether or not the forthcoming scientific information is considered “influential scientific information” or “highly influential scientific assessments”. The peer review plan then describes the peer review mechanism that has been established for both categories. Attachment 1 provides a diagram of the various groups, as well as components of the review process.