State low on new polluter list

Friday, May 31, 2002 | 9:18 a.m.

A new study ranks Nevada as one of the cleaner states in releasing chemicals into the air, water and soil.

The biggest polluters in the United States are Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana, the study by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation said.

The study, "Taking Stock," released in Montreal on Wednesday, also ranked Canada in the study, listing the province of Ontario along with the biggest polluters.

There's a catch, though, because the commission's study does not include tens of thousands of tons of mined materials that make Nevada the biggest polluter in the United States according to another study.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory, released last week, ranked Nevada at the top due to mining wastes from operations primarily in Northern Nevada. Mining materials were added to the EPA's inventory two years ago.

The "Taking Stock" study concentrated on chemical releases and placed Nevada in the bottom 10 -- or cleaner regions -- along with states such as Hawaii.

The commission focused on toxic chemical releases, using data from the EPA and Canada's industrial index.

The commission, set up under the North American Free Trade Agreement, looks at overall pollution in 1999 compared to the five previous years.

By comparing five years worth of data, the commission found that there has been a slight decrease of 3 percent in cancer-causing chemical releases, compared to a 6 percent decrease for all chemicals, Commission Executive Director Janine Ferretti said.

Only 25 chemicals account for 90 percent of all chemical releases, and one third of those chemical releases are metals.