SOUTH CAROLINA (WMBF) – Pollution is a red flag when choosing where you should live, but South Carolina isn't usually one of those places you'd think of as "toxic."
A study recently released by the Natural Resource Defense Council has named South Carolina as number 13 out of the top 20 states for exposing residents to toxic air pollution.
The analysis shows that pollution from coal-fired power plants emitted 9.3 million pounds of harmful chemicals in this state in 2010.
"Toxic pollution is already being reduced as a result of EPA's health-protecting standards," said John Walke, NRDC's clean air director. "Thanks to the agency's latest safeguards, millions of children and their families in the states hardest hit by toxic air pollution from power plants will be able to breathe easier.''
South Carolina was not the only southern state to make the "Toxic 20." Those states are listed below:
1. Kentucky
2. Ohio
3. Pennsylvania
4. Indiana
5. West Virginia
6. Florida
7. Michigan
8. North Carolina
9. Georgia
10. Texas
11. Tennessee
12. Virginia
13. South Carolina
14. Alabama
15. Missouri
16. Illinois
17. Mississippi
18. Wisconsin
19. Maryland
20. Delaware
Since this list was compiled in 2009, improvements were made by each state, but 18 of the 20 on that list returned to make the list again in 2010.
The NRDC's data shows South Carolina ranked 29th among all states in industrial mercury air pollution from power plants with nearly 570 pounds emitted in 2010, accounting for 32 percent of state mercury air pollution and one percent of U.S. electric sector mercury pollution.
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