FULL ARTICLE, MAP, CHARTS: 180 Sites Account for a Quarter of Cascadia’s Carbon Pollution
Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington count 180 stationary facilities that each emit more than 100,000 metric tons of carbon annually, accounting for roughly a quarter of the entire region’s carbon pollution. New research from regional think tank Sightline Institute identifies the dozens of major polluters that dirty Cascadia’s air and add to the region’s climate-warming pollution every day, even in places with strong climate policies.
Topping the list are fossil fuel-fired power plants, oil and gas facilities, and forest products facilities, like pulp and paper mills. Many of these sites enjoy notable loopholes in the climate policies of reputationally green Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia.
“A relatively small number of businesses are responsible for an outsized share of Cascadia’s climate pollution,” said Emily Moore, author of the research and director of Sightline Institute’s climate and energy program. “Despite the technical and political challenges to cleaning them up, they still deserve policymakers’ attention—because Cascadians deserve a healthier environment.”
Read the full analysis: 180 Sites Account for a Quarter of Cascadia’s Carbon Pollution
Related:
- Northwest states need to build new power lines, fast | Otherwise, Oregon and Washington will miss critical climate targets.
- Report: The high cost of unplanned oil refinery closures | Measuring the employment and tax losses to communities and how oil companies are avoiding or delaying cleaning up their long-polluted sites. Plus, looking ahead for Washington state planning.
- No, British Columbia’s LNG cannot solve Europe’s Russian gas problem | And it’s a threat to the province’s climate commitments.
- Report: A decade of successes against fossil fuel export projects in Cascadia | The region counts 40 canceled oil, gas, and coal export projects since 2012.
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Emily Moore, Director of Sightline Institute’s Climate and Energy program, leads the organization’s work transitioning Cascadia away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner energy sources. Find her latest research here, and follow her on Twitter at @_enmoore_.
Sightline Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank providing leading original analysis of energy, housing, democracy, and forests policy in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, and beyond.