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Washington County, Vermont: environmental and disease records

Cancer mortality in Washington County is 139.8 deaths per 100,000 people per year against a U.S. rate of 143.2. The strongest disease signals are Esophagus deaths at 1.7 times the U.S. rate. Federal databases place 413 regulated facilities, sites and hazards inside the county, led by NPDES wastewater discharge permit (130), Rail grade crossing (101), Gas station (mapped facility) (50). EPA AirToxScreen estimates a lifetime cancer risk from outdoor air toxics of 20 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: 44.2634, -72.6127.

How this county ranks in Vermont

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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 Washington County compared with the United States
Cancer	Measure	County rate	U.S. rate	Times U.S.	95% interval	Years
Esophagus	Deaths	6.3	3.7	1.7xSignificant	4.2 to 9.3	2020-2024
Melanoma of the skin	New cases	36.1	23.8	1.52xSignificant	30.2 to 42.9	2019-2023
Esophagus	New cases	6	4.6	1.3x	3.9 to 9	2019-2023
Bladder	New cases	24.2	18.7	1.29xSignificant	19.8 to 29.4	2019-2023
Brain & nervous system	New cases	7.8	6.2	1.26x	5.1 to 11.3	2019-2023
Brain & nervous system	Deaths	5	4.4	1.14x	3.1 to 7.8	2020-2024
Lung & bronchus	New cases	53.7	51.8	1.04x	47.2 to 61.1	2019-2023
Stomach	New cases	6.8	6.6	1.03x	4.3 to 10.3	2019-2023
Leukemia	New cases	14.6	14.5	1.01x	11.2 to 18.9	2019-2023
Lung & bronchus	Deaths	30.4	30.2	1.01x	25.6 to 36	2020-2024
All cancer	New cases	454.5	453.4	1x	433.8 to 476	2019-2023
All cancer	Deaths	139.8	143.2	0.98x	129 to 151.4	2020-2024
Pancreas	Deaths	11	11.3	0.97x	8.1 to 14.6	2020-2024
Kidney & renal pelvis	Deaths	3.3	3.4	0.97x	1.9 to 5.7	2020-2024
Pancreas	New cases	12.7	13.9	0.91x	9.6 to 16.7	2019-2023
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	New cases	16.7	18.5	0.9x	13 to 21.2	2019-2023
Thyroid	New cases	11.7	13	0.9x	8.1 to 16.4	2019-2023
Liver & bile duct	Deaths	5.8	6.6	0.88x	3.7 to 8.7	2020-2024
Leukemia	Deaths	4.9	5.7	0.86x	3.1 to 7.5	2020-2024
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma	Deaths	3.8	4.8	0.79x	2.2 to 6.3	2020-2024
Kidney & renal pelvis	New cases	13.1	17.9	0.73x	9.9 to 17.2	2019-2023
Liver & bile duct	New cases	5.7	8.7	0.66x	3.7 to 8.6	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 Washington County
Measure	County	U.S. median	Difference	Unit
Premature death	7,123.5	9,842.6	-28%	years of life lost before age 75 per 100,000
Life expectancy	79	75.3	+5%	years
Child mortality	31.7	59.8	-47%	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	95.3	96.9	-2%	deaths per 100,000
Drug overdose deaths	36.4	28.6	+27%	deaths per 100,000

Air toxics and air quality

EPA AirToxScreen 2020

Lifetime cancer risk from outdoor air toxics: 20 in a million. EPA treats 100 in a million as the upper end of acceptable risk and 1 in a million as the goal.

Formaldehyde12.17 per million
Carbon Tetrachloride2.93 per million
Acetaldehyde1.49 per million
Naphthalene1.3 per million

EPA Air Quality Index

No EPA air quality monitor reports daily AQI for this county.

Regulated facilities, sites and hazards by type

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

NPDES wastewater discharge permit130
Rail grade crossing101
Gas station (mapped facility)50
Brownfield property42
Auto repair or body shop (mapped facility)31
Air permit holder (minor source)19
Small hazardous waste generator10
Hydroelectric plant6
Public airport4
Scrapyard (mapped facility)4
Hazardous waste transporter3
TRI reporting facility3
Toxic chemical release facility (TRI)3
Commercial airport1
Dry cleaner (mapped facility)1
Large hazardous waste generator1
Heliport1
Landfill (mapped facility)1
Biomass power plant1
Oil-fired power plant1

Highest-severity records

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

Barre Waste Water Treatment Facility, Barre
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110010809768 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 6
Northfield Wastewater Treatment Facility, Northfield
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110022525588 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 6
Pike Industries Plant P-901 (Berlin), Barre
Toxic chemical release facility (TRI). Chemicals: Polycyclic aromatic compounds, Benzo[g,h,i]perylene, Lead. Reports carcinogens. 4 lbs released over 5 years.
TRI facility ID 0564WPKNDS165GR (U.S. EPA Toxics Release Inventory)
Severity 5
Cabot Wwtf, Cabot
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110010910719 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 4.5
Marshfield Wastewater Treatment Facility, Marshfield
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110010911059 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 4.5
Cabot Creamery Co-Op, Cabot
TRI reporting facility.
EPA FRS registry ID 110000314892 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 4.5
Pike Industries Inc (Berlin), Berlin
TRI reporting facility.
EPA FRS registry ID 110008208073 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 4.3
Cabot Creamery, Cabot
Toxic chemical release facility (TRI). Chemicals: Nitric acid, Nitrate compounds (water dissociable; reportable only when in aqueous solution). 50 lbs released over 5 years.
TRI facility ID 05647CBTFRBOX12 (U.S. EPA Toxics Release Inventory)
Severity 4.3
Ccs Constructors - Barre Bridge, Barre
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110071439706 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 4.3
Berlin 5, Berlin
Oil-fired power plant.
Record ID 3734 (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
Severity 4
Montpelier Wastewater Treatment Facility, Montpelier
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110000547374 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 4
Vermont Creamery Llc, Barre
TRI reporting facility.
EPA FRS registry ID 110070557818 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 4
Plainfield Wastewater Treatment Facility, Plainfield
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110008997791 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 3.8
Waterbury Water Department, Waterbury
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110009003997 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 3.8
Worcester Fd 1, Worcester
NPDES wastewater discharge permit.
EPA FRS registry ID 110024414230 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 3.8
Safety Kleen Systems, Barre
Large hazardous waste generator.
EPA FRS registry ID 110000620392 (U.S. EPA ECHO) Agency record
Severity 3.3
Union Elementary School, Montpelier
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110021536612 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
St. Michael'S School, Montpelier
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110022649785 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Carr Lot Property, Montpelier
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110038691396 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Salt Shed & Turntable Park, Montpelier
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110038747407 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Mwt Property, Northfield
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110038747416 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
State Of Vermont Land, Montpelier
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110038760515 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Warren Town Garage, Warren
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110038760631 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Warren Dump, Warren
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110038760668 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3
Twin Cities Sandblasting/Resource, Barre
Brownfield property.
EPA FRS registry ID 110039057882 (U.S. EPA Brownfields (ACRES)) Agency record
Severity 3

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 Washington County

Vermont 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 Washington County, and their findings.
Vermont vital statistics office
Death certificate counts by cause of death and residence tract or ZIP code, and the years behind the mortality measures above.
Vermont health department, environmental epidemiology
Health consultations or assessments by ATSDR or the state health department covering the county, and any exposure investigations.
Vermont 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.
Vermont 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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