The EPA’s data on cancer risk from air pollution has gone dark

The EPA has stopped publishing cancer risk estimates as part of its yearly air pollution data update, after more than two decades of sharing this information. The agency still releases raw pollution numbers, but not the calculation showing how much added cancer risk those emissions create for people living nearby. It also hasn't updated its public map that let people search cancer risk from air pollution by location.

This data, part of a program called the Air Toxics Screening Assessment, has helped homeowners and community groups understand pollution risk from nearby factories, medical sterilization plants, and other industrial sources going back to 2002. Without the risk estimates, raw emissions numbers are hard for most people to interpret without specialized training, according to researchers who use the data. The most recent update, covering 2021 emissions, was posted late this summer only after a former EPA staffer pressed the agency to release it. An EPA spokesperson said the agency will keep posting emissions and concentration data but did not explain why the cancer risk figures were dropped.

This change is part of a broader pattern: the administration has removed or altered nearly 2,000 environmental webpages and datasets, including a tool that mapped pollution hot spots alongside demographic data. If you live near industrial facilities and want to know your area's cancer risk from air pollution, the government's own numbers on that are currently missing or outdated, and some advocacy groups are trying to preserve or recreate similar tools independently.