Texas Tops List of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Environmental Protection Agency has released a new interactive map today that allows you to explore greenhouse gas emissions throughout the country for 2010. Here’s a snapshot of Texas that links to the map:
Clusters of Greenhouse Gas Emitters in Texas (Map by EPA)
The largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the state for that year? The Luminant Martin Lake power plant, which mostly burns lignite. It released 18.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere last year and is the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the country.
Texas has 673 facilities reporting greenhouse gas emissions to the EPA, more than any other state. (California, in second, has 456.)
The EPA says the list is “generally” of plants and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of greenhouse gases each year, which they say is equal to burning 131 railcars’ worth of coal. The data is collected from power plants, landfills, manufacturers, miners and refineries.
Texas came in first for total emissions, with 294 million metric tons of greenhouse gases emitted in 2010. (Second place? Pennsylvania, with 129 million metric tons.)
In November, StateImpact Texas, in a joint project with NPR and the Center for Public Integrity, published a map of more than 1,000 Texas facilities flagged by the EPA for emitting hazardous chemicals into the air:
