Green Daily

Houston and L.A. have been named the top carbon dioxide producers, according to Vulcan, a three year project funded by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Harris County in Texas, home to many oil and natural gas plants, the city of Houston, and more than 2 million people, emitted more than 18.6 million tons of CO2 in 2002, the latest year for which data was available. Los Angeles County, home of jammed freeways and 4 million people, emitted nearly 18.6 million tons of CO2. Chicago was up there too, with about 13 million tons.

Kevin Gurney, the Purdue professor who led the Vulcan project, cautions against using the Vulcan data to blame who is most responsible for emissions. For example, San Juan County in New Mexico, is listed as the sixth largest carbon emitter but most of its emissions come from coal-fired power plants that send power to growing cities in Arizona and Nevada.

See below for the list of the top 20 CO2 emitters:

1. Harris, Texas (Houston), 18.625

2. Los Angeles, Calif. (Los Angeles), 18.595

3. Cook, Ill. (Chicago), 13.209

4. Cuyahoga, Ohio (Cleveland), 11.144

5. Wayne, Mich. (Detroit), 8.270

6. San Juan, N.M. (Farmington), 8.245

7. Santa Clara, Calif. (San Jose), 7.995

8. Jefferson, Ala. (Birmingham), 7.951

9. Wilcox, Ala. (Camden), 7.615

10. East Baton Rouge, La. (Baton Rouge), 7.322

11. Titus, Texas (Mt. Pleasant), 7.244

12. Carbon, Pa. (Jim Thorpe), 6.534

13. Porter, Ind. (Valparaiso), 6.331

14. Jefferson, Ohio (Steubenville), 6.278

15. Indiana, Pa. (Indiana), 6.224

16. Middlesex, Mass. (Boston metro area), 6.198

17. Bexar, Texas (San Antonio), 6.141

18. Hillsborough, Fla. (Tampa), 6.037

19. Suffolk, N.Y. (New York metro area), 6.030

20. Clark, Nev. (Las Vegas) 5.955