Pop Ten CO2 Polluters (ranked by state)...from Power Plants, Huffington Post:

Joanna Zelman First Posted: 02-23-11 09:03 AM | Updated: 02-23-11 10:08 AM


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/top-state-co2-emissions-polluters_n_826753.html#s244369&title=10_Missouri_


Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants rose in 2010 by over 5% -- this is the biggest annual increase since the EPA started tracking emissions in 1995. In part, this increase can be explained by warmer weather and a recovering economy. But the statistics are worrisome. 2010 was one of the hottest years ever recorded, and while in 2010 coal-fired boilers accounted for 45% of U.S. electricity, they were reportedly responsible for 81% of CO2 emissions from electricity generation.

A recent study released by The Environmental Integrity Project has listed the 10 states whose power plants emitted the most CO2 in 2010, based on EPA data. Did your state manage to dodge the list?

See list and photos at link.

from the Environmental Integrity Project:

**The 12 states with the heaviest concentrations of the dirtiest power plants -- in terms of total tons of carbon dioxide emitted -- are: Texas (five, including two of the top 10 dirtiest plants); Pennsylvania (four); Indiana (four, including two of the top 10 dirtiest plants); Alabama (three); Georgia (three, including two of the top three dirtiest plants); North Carolina (three); Ohio (three); West Virginia (three); Wyoming (two); Florida (two); Kentucky (two); and New Mexico (two).

The "Dirty Kilowatts" report also ranks the worst power plants on the basis of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury, looking at all four pollutants both in terms of total tons of emissions and also emission rate (pounds per megawatt-hour of electricity produced). For example, just 14 percent of the 378 ranked fossil-fuel-burning power plants account for 40 percent of their sulfur dioxide emissions. Taken together, the 378 plants ranked in this report represent about a third of all power plants tracked in EPA's inventory, but they account for almost 90 percent of the electricity generated by the plants in EPA's inventory, and approximately half of total U.S. electric generation. Plants in North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Indiana, and South Dakota top the non-CO2 rankings.**

http://www.dirtykilowatts.org/release2007.cfm

sadly, I live in one of the states.