Texas Leads Nation In Carbon Dioxide Emissions

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but Texas still leads the nation in the production of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. Last year, Texas produced 670 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. (Each metric ton contains 2,204.6 pounds of pollution.)

Texas produces so much more pollution that the second place state (California) produces 281 million metric tons less carbon dioxide than Texas does. Here are the top ten polluting states in millions of metric tons:

1. Texas -- 670

2. California -- 389

3. Pennsylvania -- 271

4. Ohio -- 266

5. Florida -- 244

6. Indiana -- 235

7. Illinois -- 230

8. New York -- 214

9. Michigan -- 185

10. Louisiana -- 179

Those should be some pretty embarrassing numbers for Texans. Even California and New York don't produce near the pollution that Texas does. There is only one reason for this. The Texas Republican party has put corporate profits above Texans' health and the nation's environment.

I know some of you might be thinking that Texas has a pretty large population, and our pollution numbers probably would look better when considered per capita. But even divided per capita, Texas does only slightly better, producing 30 metric tons per person (the national average is 20). Here are the top ten states per capita:

1. Wyoming -- 125

2. North Dakota -- 80

3. Alaska -- 69

4. West Virginia -- 63

5. Louisiana -- 40

6. Indiana -- 38

7. Montana -- 36

8. Kentucky -- 35

9. New Mexico -- 31

10. Texas -- 30

Texas produces 30 metric tons (or 66,138 pounds) of pollution for each person living in the state. Isn't it time to elect some officials that will clean this mess up?