article: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Superfund Site Public Health Improvement Act''. SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH AT NPL FACILITIES. Section 104(i)(6) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(i)(6)) is amended as follows: (1) By amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows: ``(A) The Administrator of ATSDR shall perform a health assessment for each facility, including those facilities owned by any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States, on the National Priorities List established under section 105. The health assessment shall be commenced as soon as practicable after each facility is proposed for inclusion on the National Priorities List and shall be completed not later than the date of issuance of a remedial investigation and feasibility study for the facility to allow full consideration in selecting the remedial action of the public health implications of any release.''. (2) By amending subparagraph (D) to read as follows: ``(D)(i) The Administrator and the Administrator of ATSDR shall develop strategies to obtain relevant on-site and off-site characterization data for use in a health assessment. The Administrator shall, to the maximum extent practicable, provide the Administrator of ATSDR with the data and information necessary to make health assessments sufficiently prior to the initiation of remedial actions to allow ATSDR to complete these assessments. Where deemed appropriate, the Administrator of ATSDR shall provide to the Administrator as soon as practicable after site discovery, recommendations for sampling environmental media for hazardous substances of public health concern. To the extent feasible, the Administrator shall incorporate such recommendations into its site investigation activities. ``(ii) In order to improve community involvement in health assessments, the Administrator of ATSDR shall carry out each of the following duties: ``(I) The Administrator of ATSDR shall actively collect data from residents of affected communities and from other sources in communities affected or potentially affected by releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants regarding exposure, relevant human activities, and other factors. ``(II) The Administrator of ATSDR shall design health assessments that take into account the needs and conditions of the affected community. Community-based research models, building links to local expertise, and local health resources should be used. Each affected community shall be permitted to play an active and early role in reviewing health assessment designs. In preparing such designs, emphasis shall be placed on collection of actual exposure data and sources of multiple exposure shall be considered.''. SEC. 3. HEALTH STUDIES. Subparagraph (A) of section 104(i)(7) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(i)(7)) is amended to read as follows: ``(A) Whenever in the judgment of the Administrator of ATSDR it is appropriate on the basis of the results of a health assessment or on the basis of other appropriate information, the Administrator of ATSDR shall conduct a human health study of exposure or other health effects for selected groups or individuals in order to determine the desirability of conducting full scale epidemiologic or other health studies of the entire exposed population.''. SEC. 4. DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALS TO HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND MEDICAL CENTERS. Paragraph (14) of section 104(i) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9604(i)) is amended to read as follows: ``(14) In implementing this subsection and other health-related provisions of this Act in cooperation with the States, the Administrator of ATSDR shall-- ``(A) assemble, develop as necessary, and distribute to the States, medical colleges, physicians, nursing institutions, nurses, and other health professionals and medical centers, appropriate educational materials (including short courses) on the medical surveillance, screening, and methods of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of injury or disease related to exposure to hazardous substances (giving priority to those listed in paragraph (2)), through means the Administrator of ATSDR considers appropriate; and ``(B) assemble, develop as necessary, and distribute to the general public and to at-risk populations appropriate educational materials and other information on human health effects of hazardous substances.''. SEC. 5. GRANT AWARDS, CONTRACTS, AND COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES. Section 104(i)(15) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 6904(i)(15)) is amended as follows: (1) By inserting ``(A)'' before ``The activities''. (2) In the first sentence, by striking ``cooperative agreements with States (or political subdivisions thereof)'' and inserting ``grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts with States (or political subdivisions thereof), other appropriate public authorities, public or private institutions, colleges, universities, and professional associations giving consideration to those colleges and universities that are historically black colleges and universities and to other educational institutions that primarily serve minorities or represent the interests of affected communities''. (3) By adding at the end the following new subparagraphs: ``(B) When a health assessment is conducted at a facility on the National Priorities List, or a release is being evaluated for inclusion on the National Priorities List, the Administrator of ATSDR may provide the assistance specified in this paragraph to public or private nonprofit entities, individuals, and community-based groups that may be affected by the release or threatened release of hazardous substances in the environment. ``(C) The Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, pursuant to the grants, cooperative agreements and contracts referred to in this paragraph, is authorized and directed to provide, where appropriate, health services to communities affected by the release of hazardous substances. Such health services may include diagnostic services, specialized treatment, health data registries and preventative public health education.''. SEC. 6. PUBLIC HEALTH RECOMMENDATIONS IN REMEDIAL ACTIONS. Section 121(c) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9621(c)) is amended in the first sentence by inserting after ``remedial action'' the second time it appears the following: ``, including public health recommendations and decisions resulting from activities under section 104(i),''.
summary: Superfund Site Public Health Improvement Act - Amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to include U.S. Government facilities on the National Priorities List (NPL) among those requiring a health assessment by the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Requires all health assessments to be commenced as soon as practicable after proposal for inclusion on the NPL and to be completed no later than the date of issuance of a remedial investigation and feasibility study. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the ATSDR Administrator to develop strategies to obtain characterization data for use in health assessments. Requires the EPA Administrator to provide data sufficiently prior to initiation of remedial actions to allow ATSDR to complete its assessments and requires the ATSDR Administrator, where appropriate, to provide EPA as soon as practicable after site discovery with recommendations for sampling environmental media for hazardous substances of public health concern. Directs the ATSDR Administrator to improve community involvement in health assessments by: (1) collecting data from residents of affected communities and other sources in communities affected or potentially affected by hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants; and (2) designing assessments that take into account the needs and conditions of the community and permitting affected communities to play an active and early role in reviewing assessment designs. Directs the ATSDR Administrator to include other appropriate information (in addition to health assessment results) as a basis for conducting human health studies of exposure or other health effects in order to determine whether to conduct full-scale epidemiological or other health studies of the exposed population. Revises provisions regarding distribution by ATSDR of educational materials concerning hazardous substance exposure to health professionals and medical centers to: (1) include nursing institutions and nurses as recipients of such materials; (2) add materials on methods of prevention; and (3) require distribution to the general public and at-risk populations of such materials and other information. Authorizes the ATSDR Administrator, in addition to using cooperative agreements, to carry out activities through grants to or contracts with States and political subdivisions, other public authorities, institutions, colleges, universities, and professional associations, giving consideration to historically black colleges and other educational institutions that primarily serve minorities or represent the interests of affected communities. Authorizes assistance, when a health assessment is conducted at a facility on the NPL or a release is being evaluated for inclusion on such list, to public and nonprofit entities, individuals, and community-based groups that may be affected by the release or threatened release. Authorizes and directs the provision of health services to affected communities. Requires the President to add to the review at least every five years of remedial actions that result in a site remaining contaminated a review of public health recommendations and decisions resulting from ATSDR activities.