Biggest Polluters In U.S. Ranked By Greenhouse Gas Emissions In New Report
The stacks from the Gavin coal burning power plant tower over the landscape on Feb. 4, 2012 in Cheshire, Ohio. The plant ranked seventh on a new list of the U.S.' top polluters. (Photograph by Benjamin Lowy/Getty Images)
By Kate Sheppard Posted: 09/10/2013 1:17 pm EDT | Updated: 09/10/2013 5:09 pm EDT
If the 50 dirtiest power plants in the United States were their own sovereign country, they would qualify as the seventh-biggest polluter in the world, according to a new report released on Tuesday. Those power plants alone emit more than all of South Korea or Canada.
The new report [ http://www.environmentamericacenter.org/news/amc/report-ranks-america%E2%80%99s-biggest-carbon-polluters ], from the group Environment America, ranks the 100 dirtiest power plants in the U.S. Overall, nearly 6,000 different power generation facilities are located in the U.S., which in total account for 41 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions produced here. But the 100 dirtiest alone -- all but two of which are coal-fired power plants -- create nearly half of those planet-warming emissions.
Texas, Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania ranked highest for overall carbon pollution from power plants.
The top five individual plants were:
1. Georgia Power Company's Plant Scherer
2. Alabama Power Company's James H. Miller Jr. Plant
3. Luminant Generation Company's Martin Lake Plant in Texas
4. Union Electric Company's Labadie Plant in Missouri
5. NRG Texas Power's W.A. Parish Plant
These power plants, said Julian Boggs, Environment America's global warming program director, "are the elephant in the room when it comes to global warming."
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) joined the group at a press event rolling out the new report Tuesday morning. These plants, he said, "are a menace to our oceans and our atmosphere, and they are a menace to public health."