Risk from Diesel and Other Air Toxics [Washington (State)]
State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal · 2025 Full Details
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Full Details
- Title
- Risk from Diesel and Other Air Toxics [Washington (State)]
- Description
- This data is included as part of the Environmental Health Disparities Version 3.0 map. To see this map, visit our webpage . For more technical information on this map and the model used, visit our technical report (link). Overview Some harmful gases and particles in the air can increase a person's cancer risk. Communities with less economic access and historically minoritized communities are more likely to have high levels of these dangerous pollutants. Vehicle traffic, especially diesel emissions, make up most of the cancer risk in Washington. This measure shows cancer risk from hazardous air pollution across Washington State. Background Some air pollutants can raise the risk of cancer if people breathe them over many years. These pollutants, called air toxics, can come from many sources including cars, trucks, factories, and wood burning. Breathing in even low levels for a long time can lead to cancer and other serious health problems. Busy roads and polluting industries are frequently built in communities of color and neighborhoods with fewer financial resources, causing these communities to face higher health risks. The EPA's Air Toxics Screening Assessment estimates how outdoor air pollution increases cancer risk. It looks at how much pollution is in the air, where it comes from, and how harmful it is. The analysis assumes people are exposed to the current level of pollution for a 70-year lifespan to estimate the lifetime impact on cancer risk. For more information on the cancer risk from all emissions tracked, visit: AirToxScreen Mapping Tool (2020) . Evidence The cancer risk from air toxics is not distributed evenly. Studies have found Black communities have 16% higher cancer risk than White communities. Communities with less economic access have 12% higher cancer risk than higher income communities [1]. Other analyses have found that racial residential segregation amplifies this risk. Individuals living in extremely segregated areas, regardless of race, have a 32% higher cancer risk than less segregated areas. This effect is the strongest for Hispanic communities, who experience 74% higher cancer risk in extremely segregated areas [2]. Industrial facilities that release pollution are more often built near communities with less economic access and communities of color [3]. Black Americans are 75% more likely to live near pollution producing sites compared to whites [4]. There is ten times as much toxic metal in the air in racially segregated communities [5]. People of color bear 56% of the burden of pollution from refineries [6]. It is important to note that these air toxics cause other health impacts in addition to cancer. Both acute and chronic exposure to diesel emissions can cause a wide range of health effects, including increasing rates of heart disease, blood pressure, and infant mortality rates [7]. Long-term effects of other air toxics include asthma, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes [8]. Data source EPA Air Toxics Screening Assessment, 2020 Methods The risk from diesel and other air toxics score is the total cancer risk per million people from diesel and all air toxics captured in AirToxScreen 2020, except wildfire smoke. Description of pollutant categories included in cancer risk analysis Category Examples of specific pollutants/sources On Road Vehicles on roads, including cars, trucks, and buses Non-Road Marine traffic, airplanes, agricultural equipment, and construction equipment Facilities Air pollution released by industrial facilities Biogenics and Background Emissions from vegetation and sources outside the state Secondary Pollutants formed due to interactions in the atmosphere between other pollutants Area Wide variety of pollutants that don't come from particular sources, including commercial cooking, commercial solvents, residential wood combustion, agricultural activity, and chemical storage/transport Diesel All vehicles and equipment that use diesel fuel, separated out of the other categories to emphasize the impact of diesel pollution The cancer risk from diesel was calculated by multiplying the census block diesel PM10 exposure by CalEPA's estimated diesel cancer risk, 300 cases of cancer per million people per microgram of diesel exhaust particulate in a cubic meter of air exposure over a 70-year lifetime [9]. The total cancer risk from other sources was calculated by adding the total cancer risk for all air toxics sources measured by AirToxScreen except fire-related sources, since a broader measure of wildfire smoke exposure is already used in the Environmental Health Disparities map. Census block level risks were summarized to census tract level using a population-weighted average. Caveats The unit risk estimate used to calculate cancer risk represents the plausible upper limit to cancer risk from each pollutant assuming a 70-year lifetime of exposure, based on the current evidence available. The actual risk from any given pollutant may be lower or higher and may be influenced by interactions with other pollutants. Many of these pollutants also have non-cancer risks that are not accounted for in this analysis. This measure represents the entire census tract, not individual areas within it. These data should always be supplemented with local data and equitable engagement for more accurate insights. Sources James, W., Jia, C., Kedia, S. (2012). Uneven Magnitude of Disparities in Cancer Risks from Air Toxics. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 9(12), 4365-85. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph9124365 . Morello-Frosch, R., Jesdale , B.M. (2006). Separate and Unequal: Residential Segregation and Estimated Cancer Risks Associated with Ambient Air Toxics in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Environ Health Perspect , 114, 386-93. doi:10.1289/ehp.8500 . Agarwal, N., Banternghansa, C., Bui, L. (2010). Toxic exposure in America: estimating fetal and infant health outcomes from 14 years of TRI reporting. Journal of Health Economics, 29(4), 557-74. Choi, H., Shim, Y., Kaye, W., Ryan, P. (2006). Potential residential exposure to toxics release inventory chemicals during pregnancy and childhood brain cancer. Environmental Health Perspectives, 114(7), 1113-8. Hendryx, M., Luo, J., Chen, B-C. (2014). Total and cardiovascular mortality rates in relation to discharges from toxics release inventory sites in the United States. Environmental Research, 133, 36-41. Szasz, A., Meuser, M. (1997). Environmental inequalities: literature review and proposals for new directions in research and theory. Current Sociology, 45(3), 99-120. Clark, L.P., Millet, D.B., Marshall, J. D. (2014). National Patterns in Environmental Injustice and Inequality: Outdoor NO2 Air Pollution in the United States. PLoS ONE, 9(4): e94431. Kodros , J.K., Bell, M.L., Dominici, F., L'Orange , C., Godri Pollitt , K.J., Weichenthal , S., et al. (2022). Unequal airborne exposure to toxic metals associated with race, ethnicity, and segregation in the USA. Nat Commun, 13, 6329. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33372-z . California Environmental Protection Agency. (1998). Proposed Identification of Diesel Exhaust as a Toxic Air Contaminant, Initial Statement for Reasons of Rulemaking, https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/sites/default/files/classic/toxics/dieseltac/staffrpt.pdf .
- Creator
- WADOH
- Publisher
- State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal
- Temporal Coverage
- Last Modified: 2025-07-30
- Date Issued
- 2025-07-18
- Rights
- Neither the Washington State Department of Health (WADOH), nor any agency, officer, or employee of the WADOH warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published by this system, nor endorses any content, viewpoints, products, or services linked from this system, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of such information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity who relies on any information obtained from this system does so at their own risk.
- Access Rights
- Public
- Format
- ArcGIS FeatureLayer
- Language
- English
- Date Added
- February 02, 2026
- Provenance Statement
- The metadata for this resource was last retrieved from State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal on 2026-02-02.
Cite and Reference
-
Citation
WADOH (2025). Risk from Diesel and Other Air Toxics [Washington (State)]. State of Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal. https://geo.wa.gov/datasets/f74724dafe364e2882023e2453a80ab5_0 (web service) -
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