Political leaders continue to reaffirm citizens' right to know about possible health hazards from industrial facilities located in their neighborhood. Yet, due to the complexity of conventional risk characterizations, it is extremely difficult for the average citizen-activist to discern the relative risk posed by local hazard sources. This paper describes the development of a comparative measure of risk for industrial facilities in South Carolina. Using Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data, the paper provides a methodology for conducting comparative risk assessments for individual facilities and communicating these risks to the general public. The risk visualization tool was developed using geographic information systems (GIS) and digital cartography. The prototype (South Carolina Toxic Risk Atlas) is a static web-based tool that is now in a testing and feedback stage (http://www.cla.sc.edu/geog/hrl/sctrap/index.htm).