'Dirty Dozen': New Study Names 12 PA Polluters Among Nation's Worst

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania is home to twelve of the nation's worst polluting industrial facilities, according to a new study, each of which produce an outsized percentage of emissions contributing to climate change.

Twelve power plants stretched across the state, from Bucks and York counties to Indiana and Allegheny, emitted a total of nearly 46 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2021.

The study, produced by PennEnvironment's Research and Policy Center, sparked a furor from lawmakers and environmentalists.

“We have to deliver on the Pennsylvania Constitution's promise that the people have a right to clean air and pure water,” State Rep. Abigail Salisbury (D-Allegheny) said in a statement.

The 12 polluters contribute to Pennsylvania's ranking as the fourth-largest greenhouse-gas emitting state in America. It comes as the state produced a record amount of natural gas in 2021, more than any state save Texas.

Environmental advocates said much stricter pollution limits are needed to hold power plants and industrial facilities to account. The report calls for an immediate committment to obtain 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, and be 100 percent percent renewable by 2050.

It also urges the state to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The multi-state coalition, already adopted by 11 of Pennsylvania's closest neighbors, places caps on carbon emissions and is hailed by advocates as a crucial cooperative step in creating both an economically and environmentally sustainable future. But the state's full participation in the program remains tied up in the courts.

“PennEnvironment’s report makes it clear that we still have unclean heavy industry in Pennsylvania," added State Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia). “The report also makes it clear that this is the moment to make big changes---that we must take advantage of the federal subsidies provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and quickly expand our renewable energy sector in Pennsylvania.”

The pollution problem is particularly bad at the top of the list, the report finds. Five of the facilities owned by Consol Energy and U.S. Steel produced 10 million tons of pollutant alone, chiefly methane and carbon dioxide. All told, the twelve facilities on PennEnvironment's list produced 18 percent of the entire state's emissions in 2020, the last year for which there are complete statistics.

Patch has reached out to Consol and U.S. Steel for comment on the report.

The worst on the list was the Keystone Generating Station in Armstrong County, which produced 7.2 million in emissions in 2021. According to the report, that's equivalent to 724,000 trips around the planet in an average gas-powered automobile.

The full list is below, which includes the name of the facility, it's location, and it's emissions in 2021 in metric tons. All are power plants save U.S. Steel, a metals facility.

1. Keystone Generating Station, Armstrong County, 7.2 million

2. Conemaugh, Indiana County, 6.9 million

3. Homer City, Indiana County, 4.4 million

4. Lackawanna Energy Center, Lackawanna County, 3.7 million

5. U.S. Steel (Edgar Thomson), Allegheny County, 3.6 million

6. York Energy Center, York County, 3.1 million

7. Seward Generation, Indiana County, 2.9 million

8. Hummel Station, Snyder County, 2.8 million

9. Fairless Energy, Bucks County, 2.8 million

10. Competitive Power Ventures, Cambria County, 2.7 million

11. Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station, Westmoreland County, 2.6 million

12. Moxie Freedom, Luzerne County, 2.5 million