We’re all to blame for greenhouse gases, of course. We elect leaders that won’t take action to reduce/restrict them; drive cars; buy lots and lots of things that are products of industries responsible for pumping greenhouse gases — those gases responsible for global warming — into the atmosphere (like, say, beef). Yet, at the same time, most of us still aren’t quite in league with the industries populating the EPA’s “Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Large Facilities” interactive map, listing only those industries responsible for 25,000 metric tons or more of greenhouse gases per year.
There’s 6,157 of them in all for the U.S., but the map lets you limit results to higher amounts of emissions, so it’s pretty easy to find your local worst offenders. Here in Baltimore, the top three include a pair of power plants — taking in 4.8 million tons of coal a year, and releasing about 8 million metric tons of CO2 a year — and a steel mill that actually shut down like a week after the EPA’s data runs out. In New York, there’s a natural gas power plant on the East River (photo above) putting out some 2 million metric tons of CO2 a year and, in Brooklyn, at 23rd and 3rd, there’s a power plant you might not have even noticed putting out 80,000 metric tons a year.Actually, wait, most of us are pretty much in league with those greenhouse gassers after all. We buy power from them. Stop doing that already.Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv.
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