Communities living near sterilization plants, refineries, and other industrial sites have long relied on a key Environmental Protection Agency dataset to understand how toxic air pollution could affect their cancer risk.
Here's what to know
As Grist reported, the EPA's 2026 release still includes raw air-toxics emissions and concentration figures, but not the cancer risk estimates it had publicly shared for more than 20 years.
EPA information has been central to past community research. In 2023, Union of Concerned Scientists researcher Darya Minovi used the agency's data to map pollution from sterilization plants that release ethylene oxide and found that more than 14 million people lived within 5 miles of those facilities.
The project also flagged 23 sterilization facilities releasing ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen, at levels that Grist said EPA findings associated with elevated cancer risk. Advocates say information like that has been used to push for stricter pollution limits and stronger accountability.
More background
Although the EPA started releasing annual updates in 2022, Grist reported that the numbers typically trail by several years because they take time to compile. The agency has published these estimates since 2002 through its Air Toxics Screening Assessment, which calculates cancer risk from hazardous air pollutants down to the census-block level.
Living near industrial pollution from chemicals such as benzene, formaldehyde, and ethylene oxide can increase the chances of developing cancer. That makes the missing estimates especially consequential for residents in pollution hot spots, including Louisiana's "Cancer Alley," communities near the Houston Ship Channel, and Chicago's southeast side.
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Critics say the change forces ordinary people to make sense of complex raw data and decide whether cancer risks in their neighborhoods are too high, even though many lack the technical expertise to do so. Grist reported that the Trump administration has altered or removed nearly 2,000 webpages and datasets related to science, climate, and environmental issues.
What's being done?
Researchers and advocacy groups have begun trying to preserve access to federal environmental tools that are disappearing from official channels. Unofficial versions of resources like EJScreen are starting to appear, giving communities at least some ability to compare pollution burdens and identify local risks, according to Grist.
Former EPA EJScreen lead Tai Lung, a senior advisor on federal data policy at the Federation for American Scientists, said to Grist, "So now we're just sharing this raw data, which really means nothing to anybody."
Organizations like Air Alliance Houston and Moms Clean Air Force are still working with families and communities that need pollution information. But when federal risk assessments are no longer clear and current, that assistance becomes slower, more technical, and harder for the people living closest to the pollution to use.
Elizabeth Bechard, Moms Clean Air Force's public health manager, said, "The public deserves to have that information about that risk so that they can be equipped to push back. We're trying to protect people. It's not just a math equation."
Where can I learn more?
The loss of EPA cancer-risk estimates is part of a wider federal retreat that has left polluted communities with less protection and less information. You can see that playing out in fights over environmental justice in Cancer Alley, as well as battles over air standards and toxic industrial chemicals.
• In Louisiana's Cancer Alley, people who are already most impacted face deeper harm from EPA cuts.
• Under Lee Zeldin, the EPA moved profit over safety as coal and oil standards fell.
• The EPA also set its sights on the dire public health threat from PFAS in industrial wastewater.
Across these stories, the throughline is clear: Federal decisions can make toxic exposure harder to track and harder to stop. For people living near polluters, that's why the loss of those risk estimates matters so much.
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