[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 122 (Tuesday, June 27, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41620-41623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13571]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

[60Day-23-0057; Docket No. ATSDR-2023-0002]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), 
as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize 
the utility of government information, invites the general public and 
other federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a continuing 
information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection 
project titled APPLETREE Performance Measures. ATSDR will use this data 
collection to manage the next five-year cooperative agreement program 
under Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) No. CDC-RFA-TS-23-0001.

DATES: ATSDR must receive written comments on or before August 28, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. ATSDR-
2023-0002 by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. ATSDR will post, without change, all relevant 
comments to www.regulations.gov.
    Please note: Submit all comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal (www.regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the address listed 
above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact Jeffrey M. Zirger, Information Collection 
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton 
Road NE, MS H21-8, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; Telephone: 404-639-7570; 
Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to the OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are

[[Page 41621]]

publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described 
below.
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:
    1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected;
    4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submissions of responses; and
    5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

    APPLETREE Performance Measures (OMB Control No. 0923-0057, Exp. 09/
30/2023)--Revision--Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 
(ATSDR).

Background and Brief Description

    The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) seeks 
to build and sustain the capacity to evaluate exposures to hazardous 
waste across the country. Releases from hazardous waste sites are a 
major source of harmful exposures in homes, schools, workplaces, and 
communities. These exposures are often complex and may be difficult to 
identify and control. Hazardous waste sites may involve various toxic 
substances, exposure pathways, and health impacts. ATSDR's primary goal 
is to keep communities safe from harmful exposures and related 
diseases. To accomplish this goal, the agency works closely with 
partnering agencies to evaluate exposures at hazardous waste sites, 
educate communities, and seek new ways to better protect public health.
    ATSDR's Partnership to Promote Local Efforts to Reduce 
Environmental Exposure (APPLETREE) Program is critical to ATSDR's 
success in accomplishing its mission in communities nationwide. ATSDR's 
recipients will use APPLETREE funding to advance ATSDR's primary goal 
of keeping communities safe from harmful environmental exposures and 
related diseases. APPLETREE gives recipients the resources to build 
their capacity to assess and respond to site-specific issues involving 
human exposure to hazardous substances in the environment. APPLETREE 
helps recipients identify exposure pathways at specific sites; educate 
affected communities about site contamination and potential health 
effects; make recommendations to prevent exposure; review health 
outcome data to evaluate potential links between site contaminants and 
community health outcomes. APPLETREE facilitates the implementation of 
state-level programs to ensure that potential early care and education 
facilities are in areas free from harmful environmental exposures. 
Additionally, it motivates the recipients to innovate and implement 
progressive public health interventions that can prevent exposure to 
environmental contamination. Due to the local connections and 
partnerships of APPLETREE recipients, there is an enhancement in 
community engagement and implementation of recommendations. This 
program is authorized under Sections 104(i)(15) of the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 
1980, as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act 
(SARA) of 1986 [42 U.S.C. 9604(i)(15)].
    Under the next five-year APPLETREE cooperative agreement NOFO No. 
CDC-RFA-TS-23-0001), eligible applicants include federally recognized 
American Indian/Alaska Native tribal governments; American Indian/
Alaska native tribally designated organizations; political subdivisions 
of states (in consultation with states); and state and local 
governments or their bona fide agents. ATSDR technical project officers 
(TPOs) will assist approximately 30 APPLETREE recipients to address 
site-specific issues involving human exposure to hazardous substances. 
Key capacities include identification of human exposure pathways at 
ATSDR sites, education of affected communities and local health 
professionals about site contamination and potential health effects; 
making appropriate recommendations to prevent exposure; reviewing 
health outcome data to evaluate potential links between site 
contaminants and community health; and documenting the effects of 
environmental remediation on health.
    This is a Revision Information Collection Request (ICR) titled 
``APPLETREE Performance Measures,'' previously approved under OMB 
Control No. 0923-0057 (Expiration Date 9/30/2023). ATSDR will continue 
to collect information related to recipient activities, and the process 
and outcome performance measures outlined by the cooperative agreement 
program. Information will be used to monitor progress toward program 
goals and objectives, and for program quality improvement. Nine forms 
have been previously approved by OMB under APPLETREE Performance 
Measures under OMB Control No. 0923-0057. The first three forms were 
migrated to the new information technology (IT) system called ATSDR's 
Request Management Service System (ARMSS).
    1. ATSDR Health Education Activity (HE) Form: For each 
environmental health assessment and health education activity conducted 
at ATSDR sites, APPLETREE Recipients shall quantitatively assess and 
report efforts to educate community members about site recommendations 
and health risks using indicators to assess community understanding of 
site findings about health risks and community understanding of agency 
recommendations to reduce health risks. This information will be 
entered into ARMSS for each health education activity at ATSDR sites.
    2. ATSDR Technical Assistance Activity (TA) Form: Throughout the 
budget year, this form will be used to record the routine requests made 
by the recipients and their program responses. These responses do not 
evaluate environmental data and do not make health calls but are 
monitored by ATSDR as part of the recipients' performance.
    3. ATSDR Site Impact Assessment (SIA) Form: For each environmental 
health assessment and health education activity conducted at ATSDR 
sites, recipients shall estimate and report the number of people 
protected from exposure to toxic substances at each site where 
implementation of agency recommendations has taken place and at each 
childcare center where safe siting guidelines have been implemented. To 
the extent possible, recipients shall estimate and report the disease 
burden prevented due to the implementation of site recommendations and 
safe siting guidelines.
    The fourth form is currently being migrated from SharePoint to 
ARMSS. This transition is currently taking place.
    4. ATSDR Success Story Form: Recipients will provide one success 
story per quarter (four success stories total per year) that highlights 
the impact of any of their programs. Recipients will report a summary, 
background, intervention/action taken, and accomplishment/impact for 
each story. Optionally, they may include a photo or quote.

[[Page 41622]]

    Recipients will continue to submit the following five forms to 
ATSDR via email. In the future, these forms will be moved to an 
electronic system (e.g., ARMSS or REDCap) to simplify data collection.
    5. APPLETREE Annual Performance Report (APR) Template: Recipients 
will continue to provide an APR each year and at the end of the funding 
cycle, which summarizes their annual and funding cycle performances, 
respectively. APRs will be due in December of each year to coincide 
with the CDC Grants Management annual reports to reduce the overall 
reporting burden, and the final report will be due at the end of the 
funding cycle. The purpose of the performance reports will be to assess 
Partners based on performance measures and evaluation projects. The 
reports should include a summary of performance measures, results of 
any evaluation projects, an accompanying narrative of progress and 
interpretation of results, optional successes, challenges, and an 
updated work plan. These reports will be entered into a Microsoft Word 
form.
    6. Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education (CSPECE) 
Qualitative Narrative Form: Recipients will continue to provide a 
narrative report of their CSPECE Programs to document descriptive 
details of their state's landscape, program plan, program 
implementation, and results that cannot be captured through numbers. 
Recipients will complete and submit the narrative once a year as a 
supplement with their APRs in a Microsoft Word form.
    7. CSPECE Quantitative Form: Recipients will continue to provide 
data on their CSPECE Programs to quantify aspects of their program such 
as children reached, target audiences educated, early care and 
education programs referred and screened, and recommendations 
implemented. To supplement their APRs, recipients will complete and 
submit a Microsoft Excel form once a year as a supplement with their 
APRs.
    In addition to the required annual reporting, at the end of the 
five-year program, each recipient will report cumulative five-year 
performance measures for three forms: the APR, the CSPECE Qualitative 
Narrative Form, and the CSPECE Quantitative Form. This will result in 
six total responses in a five-year period for each form. The estimated 
annualized number of required responses is thus rounded to once per 
year for these three forms, as 6 hours divided by three years equals 
1.2 hours per year.
    8. ATSDR SoilSHOP Form: SoilSHOPs are not a required activity; 
however, if conducted, a recipient will need to complete the ATSDR 
SoilSHOP Form. This form gathers data on the inputs, activities, 
outputs, and outcomes of the event, such as the number of soil samples 
screened, the number of elevated soil samples, the number of 
individuals receiving health consultations, and the number of 
individuals receiving referrals. The form will be submitted to ATSDR 
via email within three weeks of the SoilSHOP completion.
    9. ATSDR Recommendation Follow-up Form: For each environmental 
health assessment, recipients will provide an update on the status of 
acceptance and implementation of all recommendations to understand 
whether and how recommendations have been implemented, and the 
subsequent impact on communities. Recipients will complete a Microsoft 
Excel reporting form annually on the anniversary date of the release of 
each health assessment.
    As part of the Revision request, the last form is new.
    10. ATSDR Requests for Certified and Non-certified Public Health 
Assessments and Health Consultations Form: For each environmental 
health assessment, recipients will provide the request, dates, and 
triage information and can associate the request with a hazardous waste 
site. Site scoping and clearance information are completed for about 
15% of environmental health assessments that complete ATSDR's clearance 
process (i.e., certified). This information will be entered into ARMSS.
    ATSDR is seeking a three-year Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 
clearance for this Revision ICR. ATSDR will fund 30 recipients. 
Recipient reporting is required to receive funding under the APPLETREE 
cooperative agreement. The total annual time burden requested is 269 
hours.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       (in hrs.)      (in hours)
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APPLETREE Recipients..........  ATSDR Health                  30              17            4/60              34
                                 Education (HE)
                                 Activity Form.
                                ATSDR Technical               30              17            4/60              34
                                 Assistance (TA)
                                 Activity Form.
                                ATSDR Site                    30               3            7/60              11
                                 Impact
                                 Assessment
                                 (SIA) Form.
                                ATSDR Success                 30               4           30/60              60
                                 Story Form.
                                APPLETREE Annual              30               1               2              60
                                 Performance
                                 Report (APR)
                                 Template.
                                Choose Safe                   30               1               1              30
                                 Places for
                                 Early Care and
                                 Education
                                 (CSPECE)
                                 Qualitative
                                 Narrative Form.
                                CSPECE                        30               1           15/60               8
                                 Quantitative
                                 Form.
                                ATSDR SoilSHOP                10               1            7/60               1
                                 Form.
                                ATSDR                         30               4           10/60              20
                                 Recommendation
                                 Follow-up.
                                ATSDR Requests..              30               3            7/60              11
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............             269
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[[Page 41623]]

Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Public Health 
Ethics and Regulations, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2023-13571 Filed 6-26-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-70-P