Living in New York, and more specifically for the past four years in New York City, air quality was always a concern. Whether it was the plumes of smog or the beautiful eminence that was city bus exhaust, breathing felt more like a chore than anything else. That being said, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) just released its newest report of its top twenty “toxic” states according to emissions in the US sector from the year 2010. Pollution statistics were broken down by state into their most prevalent types i.e coal in Ohio. To our delight, the study found a, “9 percent decrease in all air toxins emitted from power plants in 2010, in comparison to 2009 levels.” This was due in large part because of the emphasis on clean energy, and more specifically natural gas. Comparably, the top two states occupying the list, Kentucky and Ohio, ranked so highly because the majority of their emissions were in the form of coal-fired power plants. So take a look and see how your state ranks, if at all, on the “Toxic Twenty”, and be sure to check out the NRDC report below.
The “Toxic Twenty″ list (from worst to best) are:
- Kentucky
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Indiana
- West Virginia
- Florida
- Michigan
- North Carolina
- Georgia
- Texas
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- South Carolina
- Alabama
- Missouri
- Illinois
- Mississippi
- Wisconsin
- Maryland
- Delaware
NRDC report: http://www.nrdc.org/air/files/toxic-power-presentation.pdf