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Taos County, New Mexico: environmental and disease records

Cancer mortality in Taos County is 116.9 deaths per 100,000 people per year against a U.S. rate of 143.2. Federal databases place 247 regulated facilities, sites and hazards inside the county, led by NPDES wastewater discharge permit (89), Scrapyard (mapped facility) (85), Air permit holder (minor source) (24). EPA AirToxScreen estimates a lifetime cancer risk from outdoor air toxics of 10 in a million, driven mainly by formaldehyde.

Rates are age-adjusted per 100,000 people. A cancer signal is marked significant when the lower bound of its 95 percent confidence interval is above the U.S. rate. Facility counts use active federal records located inside the county boundary. Approximate county center: 36.5043, -105.6399.

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Cancer deaths and new cases versus the United States

Source: NCI and CDC State Cancer Profiles, both sexes, all ages. Sorted by the ratio of the county rate to the U.S. rate.

Cancer rates for Taos County compared with the United States
Cancer	Measure	County rate	U.S. rate	Times U.S.	95% interval	Years
Bladder	Deaths	5.2	4.1	1.27x	3.1 to 8.9	2020-2024
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	Deaths	5.2	4.8	1.08x	3.1 to 9	2020-2024
Esophagus	New cases	4.8	4.6	1.04x	2.7 to 8.7	2019-2023
Stomach	New cases	6.7	6.6	1.02x	4 to 11.1	2019-2023
Pancreas	Deaths	11.3	11.3	1x	7.7 to 16.3	2020-2024
Leukemia	Deaths	5.4	5.7	0.95x	3.2 to 9.3	2020-2024
Thyroid	New cases	12	13	0.92x	7.1 to 19.1	2019-2023
Pancreas	New cases	11.5	13.9	0.83x	8.1 to 16.5	2019-2023
Liver & bile duct	Deaths	5.4	6.6	0.82x	3.1 to 9.5	2020-2024
All cancer	Deaths	116.9	143.2	0.82x	105 to 130	2020-2024
All cancer	New cases	314.1	453.4	0.69x	292 to 337.5	2019-2023
Kidney & renal pelvis	New cases	12.2	17.9	0.68x	8.7 to 17.2	2019-2023
Liver & bile duct	New cases	5.3	8.7	0.61x	2.9 to 9.4	2019-2023
Leukemia	New cases	8.8	14.5	0.61x	5.5 to 13.8	2019-2023
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	New cases	10.7	18.5	0.58x	7.4 to 15.3	2019-2023
Melanoma of the skin	New cases	13.5	23.8	0.57x	9.1 to 19.7	2019-2023
Bladder	New cases	8.8	18.7	0.47x	5.9 to 13.2	2019-2023
Lung & bronchus	Deaths	14	30.2	0.46x	10.4 to 19.1	2020-2024
Lung & bronchus	New cases	19.8	51.8	0.38x	15.3 to 25.8	2019-2023

Mortality measures versus the U.S. county median

Source: County Health Rankings, built from CDC National Vital Statistics System death records. The comparison value is the median of all U.S. counties.

Mortality measures for Taos County
Measure	County	U.S. median	Difference	Unit
Premature death	12,929.8	9,842.6	+31%	years of life lost before age 75 per 100,000
Life expectancy	76.5	75.3	+2%	years
Child mortality	86.9	59.8	+45%	deaths under age 18 per 100,000
Infant mortality	n/a	6.2	n/a	deaths under age 1 per 1,000 live births
Injury deaths	145.2	96.9	+50%	deaths per 100,000
Drug overdose deaths	52.1	28.6	+82%	deaths per 100,000

Air toxics and air quality

EPA AirToxScreen 2020

Lifetime cancer risk from outdoor air toxics: 10 in a million. EPA treats 100 in a million as the upper end of acceptable risk and 1 in a million as the goal.

Formaldehyde9.08 per million
Carbon Tetrachloride2.3 per million
Acetaldehyde0.59 per million
Benzene0.41 per million

EPA Air Quality Index 2025

Monitored on 356 days: 352 good, 0 unhealthy for sensitive groups or worse. Median AQI 16, peak 52.

Regulated facilities, sites and hazards by type

247 active records inside the county from EPA ECHO, TRI, Superfund, Brownfields, NPDES, EIA, FAA, FRA and corrections data.

NPDES wastewater discharge permit89
Scrapyard (mapped facility)85
Air permit holder (minor source)24
Gas station (mapped facility)19
Auto repair or body shop (mapped facility)5
Brownfield property5
Solar power plant4
Wastewater plant (mapped facility)3
EPA air quality monitor2
Public airport2
Heliport2
Landfill (mapped facility)2
Major air pollution source1
Commercial airport1
Large hazardous waste generator1
Small hazardous waste generator1
Superfund (NPL) site1

Highest-severity records

The 25 records with the highest Envyrofax severity in the county, with the agency identifier to cite in a records request.

Chevron Questa Mine, Questa
Superfund (NPL) site. Hazard Ranking System score 50. NPL Site.
EPA site ID NMD002899094 (U.S. EPA Superfund (SEMS/NPL)) Agency record
Severity 10
Taos Wastewater Treatment Plant, Taos
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110022681267 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 4.5
Taos Ski Valley, Village Of, Taos Ski Valley
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110002047197 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 3.5
Village Of Taos Ski Valley Aci, Taos Ski Valley
Major air pollution source.
EPA FRS registry ID 110071273655 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 3.5
Questa Mine, Questa
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110007031602 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 3.3
La Tauh Tah, Taos
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110043243095 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Renya Store, Taos
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110043243102 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Taos Pueblo - Community Health & Services Building, Taos
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110071965553 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Rolling Still & Knce Taos Radio, El Prado
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110071981721 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Ranchos De Taos Parochial School, Ranchos De Taos
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110072136133 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Taos Pueblo, Taos
Large hazardous waste generator.
EPA FRS registry ID 110071394277 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 3
Aguirre Salvage, Taos
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110064867693 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 2.3
3ZD Taos, Taos
EPA air quality monitor.
Record ID 350550005 (U.S. EPA AirData)
Severity 2.1
Robert Medina And Sons - Concrete Batch, Taos
Air permit holder (minor source). Penalties $540,708.
EPA FRS registry ID 110022702574 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 2
Concrete Batch Plant, Gcp5-9545, Taos
Air permit holder (minor source). Penalties $540,708.
EPA FRS registry ID 110071274229 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 2
Questa Muni Nr 2, Questa
Public airport. O.
Record ID N24 (FAA / U.S. DOT)
Severity 2
Taos Rgnl, Taos
Commercial airport. O.
Record ID SKX (FAA / U.S. DOT)
Severity 2
Sanitary Landfill
Landfill (mapped facility). Mapped facility presence only; no compliance or exposure measurements.
Record ID way/1118268152 (OpenStreetMap contributors) Agency record
Severity 2
Questa WTP, Questa
Wastewater plant (mapped facility). Mapped facility presence only; no compliance or exposure measurements.
Record ID way/1118305145 (OpenStreetMap contributors) Agency record
Severity 2
Taos Regional Landfill, Taos
Landfill (mapped facility). Mapped facility presence only; no compliance or exposure measurements.
Record ID way/659538370 (OpenStreetMap contributors) Agency record
Severity 2
Red River Water Reclamation Plant, Red River
Wastewater plant (mapped facility). Mapped facility presence only; no compliance or exposure measurements.
Record ID way/831731517 (OpenStreetMap contributors) Agency record
Severity 2
Taos WTP, Ranchos de Taos
Wastewater plant (mapped facility). Mapped facility presence only; no compliance or exposure measurements.
Record ID way/977653880 (OpenStreetMap contributors) Agency record
Severity 2
Red River State Trout Hatchery, Questa
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110009148724 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 1.8
No Agua Mine, Tres Piedras
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110070112888 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 1.8
Town Of Red River, Taos
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110002042110 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 1.5

Correctional facilities

Prisons, jails and corrections operations with an EPA facility record, and the drinking water and wastewater compliance attached to them.

No correctional facility with an EPA record is located in this county.

Discovery / public records

Records to request for Taos County

New Mexico state cancer registry
Cancer incidence counts by census tract or ZIP code, by cancer type and year (de-identified). Any cancer cluster inquiries or investigations in Taos County, and their findings.
New Mexico vital statistics office
Death certificate counts by cause of death and residence tract or ZIP code, and the years behind the mortality measures above.
New Mexico health department, environmental epidemiology
Health consultations or assessments by ATSDR or the state health department covering the county, and any exposure investigations.
New Mexico environmental agency and the U.S. EPA regional office
Compliance history, inspection reports, notices of violation, penalties and enforcement actions for each facility above, cited by EPA FRS registry ID.
New Mexico drinking water program
Violation notices, sampling results and sanitary surveys for the public water systems serving the county, including any system serving a correctional facility.
Department of corrections or county sheriff
Water testing, grievances and environmental health inspections for the correctional facilities listed above.

Each Envyrofax address report includes a printable records request worksheet with the custodian and the exact request wording per finding.

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