Monday, April 25, 2011

Missouri is the 10th least green state in the U.S., and Kansas isn't much better

Posted by Justin Kendall on Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 9:22 AM

click to enlarge Missouri: The Show-Me Pollution State.
  • Missouri: The Show-Me Pollution State.

Missouri is a dirty, dirty girl. 24/7 Wall St. ranked the least green states in the United States, and the Show-Me State ranked a shameful 10th (or 41st out 50, however you want to look at it).

24/7 Wall St. looked at energy consumption, pollution problems and state

energy policies, taking from the most recent info available (2009 and

2010) to build the latest list (h/t: HuffPost

Green). Why so low, Missouri?



24/7 explains:

The nature of 24/7's ranking is such that a state might redeem itself

for a shortcoming in one category by exceeding in another. If the state

doesn't produce substantial alternative energy, it may be because its

size doesn't allow for much production, and this would be balanced to a

certain extent by low pollution levels. Missouri is a perfect example of

a state which falls flat in every statistical category. Out of 28

ranked metrics, the "Show Me State" breaks the upper 25 only five times,

with 16th in air particle score being its highest ranking. The state

ranks 37th in policy initiatives and 48th in non-hydroelectric

alternative energy.


And just so you know, Missouri ranked 33rd in toxic waste with 238

thousand tons. The state's carbon footprint wasn't much better, ranking

36th with 140 million metric tons. The rankings keep dropping from there

with the state ranking 38th in alternative energy.

Kansans, before you start laughing at ol' pollute-y Missouri, you should shut your mouths. You're the 12th least green state (or 39th out of 50). Way to beat Kentucky. How, you ask?

Thanks to its open plains, Kansas has the tenth-highest wind generation.

It also does relatively well in air quality, with the sixth-best

particle pollution score. Otherwise, the "Sunflower State" does quite

poorly. Due in part to runoff from airplane manufacturing plants and

other major sources in the state's industrial centers, Kansas is

responsible for introducing the second-highest amount of developmental

toxins into state waterways and, with 32,000 pounds, the most

reproductive toxins. Kansas also has one of the worst RSEI toxicity

exposure scores, ranking 48th in this category.


Kansas ranks only slightly ahead of Missouri in toxic waste (31st with

222.8 thousand tons) and alternative energy (ranked 33rd).


Here's the rest of the bottom 10:

1. Ohio

2. New Jersey

3. Indiana

4. West Virginia

5. Pennsylvania

6. Louisiana

7. Illinois

8. Georgia

9. Texas

10. Missouri


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