According to a new ProPublica online report, an area of Montgomery County has the highest estimated “excess lifetime cancer risk” from air pollution from chemical companies in the Philadelphia region, writes Frank Kummer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The report, titled “Poison in the Air,” analyzed and mapped the spread of cancer-causing chemicals from various sources between 2014 and 2018 to determine where air pollution exceeded the federal threshold for cancer risk in Upper Merion Township.

According to the news organization, the data offer “an unparalleled view of how toxic air blooms around industrial facilities and spreads into nearby neighborhoods.”

The data showed that Coopers Creek Chemical Corp. in Upper Merion has an estimated excess lifetime cancer risk from industrial sources of around 1 in 2,100. This is 4.7 times the EPA’s acceptable risk.

As recently as July, emergency crews were called to the River Road plant for a hazmat incident.

The report also notes that industry and the EPA are rarely required to monitor for toxins, “leaving residents near these plants chronically uninformed about what they’re breathing in.”

A Bucks County facility in Bensalem, National Refrigeration & A/C Products, has data showing a lifetime cancer risk from industrial sources of about 1 in 6,700. This is 1.5 times the EPA’s acceptable risk.

Read more about the report’s findings for air pollution in Pennsylvania in The Philadelphia Inquirer.