Texas is Big on Pollution

William Atkins
Sunday, 20 January 2008 15:57

Opinion and Analysis

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Texas expelled about 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2003, making it the biggest carbon polluter in the United States. Is that all of the story?          

The 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) that Texas output over its skies in 2003 would rank it as the seventh largest polluter in the world if it was an independent country, according to the EIA.

The second worst carbon dioxide polluter in the United States is California, and the third worst is Pennsylvania. However, these two states combined output of carbon dioxide is still less than Texas’ total output.

The EIA report states that Texas got its first place ranking due to its nineteen coal-burning power plants, its large concentration of refineries and chemical plants along the Texas Gulf Coast, lack of mass transit in most of its large and spread-out metropolitan areas, and its numerous gasoline-inefficient trucks and cars on its highways and roads.

In population, Texas is the second largest state in the union—with 23.5 million people. The second most polluting state is California, with a population of 36.5 million people—the largest in the nation.

Texas also has over 20 million registered vehicles, while California has about 33 million registered vehicles.

This article was based on the Associated Press article by April Castro, as found in The Chicago Tribune.

Is this the end of the story? I don't think so!