The industrialized stretch of the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to south of New Orleans accounts for more than half of the state’s greenhouse gas footprint, reports WWNO News.
A new analysis, still undergoing peer review, found that, in any given year, the small sliver of Louisiana produces anywhere from 26% to 55% of the state’s disproportionately large amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium coastal scientist Alex Kolker, who led the research, says the region stood out as he began to dig into international data compiled on climate and air pollution.
Emissions data mapped across the Gulf Coast region reflects how much carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide is released with a 40 square mile area. In Louisiana, major hotspots for both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants fall along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge down to south of New Orleans and the Lake Charles region in southwest Louisiana. Read the entire story.
