Analyzing data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) program and the U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey,Stacker found that Wisconsin has the highest percentage of the state’s population living in census tracts with toxic release sites at 37.3%. Only Iowa at 33.5% and Wyoming at 32.5% came close to Wisconsin in terms of the highest percentage.
Overall, Wisconsin has 842 toxic release sites. The site releasing the most toxins in Wisconsin in 2020 was Foremost Farms USA, which emitted over 2.8 million pounds. Mullins Cheese deposited about 2.1 million pounds into the land, and Water Quality Center pulp mill released about 1.2 million pounds of toxins that year.
States with the lowest percentage of people living near toxic release sites include Hawaii with 6.5% of the population living near toxic release sites, New York with 8.3%, and California with 8.4%. The EPA’s TRI program recognizes 770 chemicals, with any site that manufactures or uses these chemicals at above-average levels qualifying for listing in the TRI. Chemicals described by the TRI as “toxic” are known to cause cancer or other negative health issues, as well as adverse effects on the environment.
