INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis produces more toxic chemicals than any other large city in the country, according to the latest numbers released by the Environmental Protection Agency for 2016.
The EPA requires all large industrial facilities to report their toxic releases each year and they recently released their 2016 data. Priceonomics analyzes that data and sorted each state and city according to their toxic chemical releases.
Out of the 50 most populated cities, Indianapolis released the most toxins, 10.9 million pounds to be exact. Houston came in second, more than 5 million pounds fewer, at 6.6 million pounds.
If you take out the population, four other Indiana cities rank in the top 50 list: Gary, Rockport, East Chicago and Mount Vernon.
As a whole, the state of Indiana also released 133 million pounds of toxins into the environment last year, making it sixth most toxic state in the country.
The top five states for toxic release in 2016 were:
- Alaska: 834 million pounds
- Nevada: 317 million pounds
- Utah: 273 million pounds
- Texas: 210 million pounds
- Louisiana: 147 million pounds
New Hampshire was the most environmentally friendly state, releasing only 290,000 pounds of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere in 2016.
Top five chemicals released in Indiana:
- Zinc Compounds
- Manganese Compounds
- Nitrate Compounds
- Lead Compounds
- Sulfuric Acid
Fast Facts on Toxic Chemical Release in Indiana
- Indianapolis produced 13 pounds of chemicals for every person living in the city
- Indianapolis produced 30,150 pounds of toxic chemicals per square mile
- Gary actually produced more toxic chemicals in 2016 than Indianapolis, 23.9 million pounds to be exact
- Indiana has 916 toxic chemical releasing facilities
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