20 Most Toxic States

Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida at the top
By Sarah Whitmire,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 21, 2011 3:40 PM CDT
20 Most Toxic States
Big three polluters: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida   (Shutterstock)

Ohio accounts for more air pollution than any other state, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council spotted by LiveScience. The state's power plants pumped out 44.5 million pounds of chemicals in 2009, or 12% of all US industrial air pollution. Overall, US power plants let loose 771 million pounds of toxic chemicals that year, with about half coming from the electric sector.

The worst offenders on the most-toxic-states list:

  1. Ohio
  2. Pennsylvania
  3. Florida
  4. Kentucky
  5. Maryland
Click to read the full list of 20. (More Environmental Protection Agency stories.)

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