Virginia

Virginia has four commercial sterilizers located in Richmond and Virginia Beach, with nearly 726,000 residents living within five miles of these facilities. In Richmond, the Sterilization Services of Virginia facility is linked to elevated cancer risks, with EtO emissions contributing 70 percent of the air toxics cancer risk in its census tract. The area surrounding this facility has a higher concentration of people of color and low-income residents compared to the county average. In Virginia Beach, Lifenet Health owns two sterilizers, one of which was penalized over $64,000 by the EPA for Clean Air Act violations.

• Nearly 726,000 Virginians, representing over 8 percent of the state's population, reside within five miles of one of the state's four commercial sterilizers, which are concentrated in Richmond and Virginia Beach.
• The Sterilization Services of Virginia facility in Richmond is associated with a maximum excess cancer risk of 1,000 additional cases per 1 million people, with EtO emissions accounting for 70 percent of the overall air toxics cancer risk in its census tract.
• The population within five miles of the Sterilization Services facility in Richmond is disproportionately composed of people of color (three-quarters of the population, 25 percent higher than the county average) and low-income individuals (10 percent higher than the county average).

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2023). Virginia. https://www.ucs.org/resources/virginia

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Virginia. 2023. https://www.ucs.org/resources/virginia.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Virginia |date=7 February 2023 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/virginia |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2023virginia, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Virginia}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/virginia}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }