Illinois pumps more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all but five other states, doing its share to worsen global warming, a Chicago-based environment group reported Wednesday.
The state's annual emissions of the greenhouse gas -- 224.7 million metric tons -- were exceeded only by Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, Environment Illinois said.
Only three states -- Texas, Florida and North Carolina -- increased CO2 emissions more than Illinois from 1990 to 2001, the report said.
Cause: coal power, automobiles
Environment Illinois analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Although the period after 2001 isn't covered, DOE projects nationwide increases in CO2 emissions steepening by 11 percent over the 26 years ending in 2030.
Of Illinois' CO2 output, 40 percent comes from coal, nearly all of it burned by power plants; 37 percent from oil consumed by cars and trucks, and 23 percent from natural gas.
In the state as elsewhere around the world, "every day the threat of global warming comes into sharper focus," said Environment Illinois director Rebecca Stanfield at a news conference at the Chicago Center for Green Technology.
Fox News Chicago meteorologist Rick DiMaio noted that Chicago snowfall averaged 50 inches each winter between 1960 and 1980. Since then, the average has fallen to 35 inches.
Other speakers touted ways to combat climate change.
Colleen Sarna of the Sierra Club blasted electric utilities' plans to build 15 new coal-fired power plants in Illinois, joining 23 existing ones.
Showing off solar panels able to supply power for 25 to 30 homes, Mark Burger of the Illinois Solar Energy Association said, "Less than 1 percent of the total land area of the U.S. -- rooftops, parking lots, brownfields -- could be covered [by solar panels] without touching one acre of green space."
From http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-warming22.html
