Indiana Tops List Of Waterway Polluting States

(Undated) - Indiana puts more toxic waste into waterways than any other state.

A recently published study by Washington, D.C.-based Environment America says Indiana industries put 27.4 million pounds of toxic discharge into waterways in 2010.

Indiana was followed by Virginia, Nebraska, Texas, and Georgia, all of which accounted for nearly 40 percent of the total amount of pollution dumped into U.S. waterways. The numbers are based off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2010, the most recent data available.

The organization said it is time to urge Congress, the president, and the EPA to restore protections under the federal Clean Water Act of 1972.

“America’s waterways are a polluter’s paradise right now. Polluters dumped 226 million pounds of toxic chemicals into our lakes, rivers and streams in 2010,” said Shelley Vinyard, Clean Water Advocate with Environment America.

The Ohio River is carrying more of the country’s pollution than any other waterway, the report claims. Thirty-two million pounds of waste was put in the Ohio River in 2010.

The Ohio was ranked fourth for the discharge amount of cancer-causing chemicals, fifth for developmental toxins, and third for reproductive toxicants.

Food and beverage manufacturing, primary metals manufacturing, chemical plants, and petroleum refineries were some of the largest polluters. The AK Steel plant in Rockport, Indiana was ranked as the single biggest facility discharging pollutants into the Ohio River at 24.3 million pounds in 2010.

The North American Stainless plant in Carroll County, Kentucky was the river’s second-biggest polluter at 3.2 million pounds of waste dumped in 2010.