[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 57 (Monday, March 24, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15527-15528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-5862]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-08-0008]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a 
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call 
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-5960 or send an e-mail 
to [email protected]. Send written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-
6974. Written comments should be received within 30 days of this 
notice.

Proposed Project

    Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES)--
Extension--(OMB Control 0923-0008), Agency for Toxic 
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is 
mandated pursuant to the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response 
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and its 1986 Amendments, The 
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), to prevent or 
mitigate adverse human health effects and diminished quality of life 
resulting from the exposure to hazardous substances into the 
environment. The primary purpose of this activity, which ATSDR has 
supported since 1992, is to develop, implement, and maintain a state-
based surveillance system for hazardous substances emergency events 
which can be used to (1) describe the distribution of the hazardous 
substances releases; (2) describe the public health consequences 
(morbidity, mortality, and evacuations) associated with the events; (3) 
develop strategies to reduce future public health consequences. The 
study population will consist of all hazardous substance non-permitted 
acute releases within the 14 states (Colorado, Florida, Iowa, 
Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, 
Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin) participating in the 
surveillance system.
    Until this system was developed and implemented, there was no 
national public health-based surveillance system to coordinate the 
collation, analysis, and distribution of hazardous substances emergency 
release data to public health practitioners. It was necessary to 
establish this national surveillance system which describes the public 
health impact of hazardous substances emergencies on the health of the 
population of the United States. The data collection form will be 
completed by the state health department Hazardous Substances Emergency 
Events Surveillance (HSEES) coordinator using a variety of sources 
including written and oral reports from environmental protection 
agencies, police, firefighters, emergency response personnel; or 
researched by the HSEES coordinator using material safety data sheets, 
and chemical handbooks. There is a reduction in the annual burden hours 
per response because of the reduction in number of states from 15 to 14 
and because of a change in the case definition of an HSEES event in 
2005, which excludes stack emissions of oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX), oxides of sulfur (SOx), and carbon monoxide (CO) when 
they are not mixed with another hazardous substance.
    The HSEES public use data set is available on the ATSDR HSEES Web 
site. Interested parties complete a brief description of who will be 
using the data and for what purpose in order to download the data. This 
allows ATSDR to widely distribute the data and track its usefulness. 
The estimated annual burden hours are 5,678.
    There is no cost to the respondents other than their time.
    Estimated Annualized Burden Hours:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Average
                                                                 burden
                                 Number of        Number of        per
         Respondents            respondents     responses per   response
                                                 respondent        (in
                                                                 hours)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Participating State Health                14  536.............  45/60
 Department HSEES
 Coordinators.
Persons interested in HSEES              500  1...............  6/60
 data through Web site.
------------------------------------------------------------------------



[[Page 15528]]

    Dated: March 18, 2008.
Marilyn S. Radke,
Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 [FR Doc. E8-5862 Filed 3-21-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P