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Coal Waste by State, Existing Plants

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More than four hundred forty existing coal-fired power plants in 47 states produced over 126 million tons of coal waste in 2005, contaminated by over 91 thousand tons of toxic metals. This table lists totals by state, ranked by total coal waste per state.

State Name Rank in Waste Tons of Waste Rank in Toxic Metals Tons of Toxic Metals Tons of Waste in Ponds Tons of Waste in Landfills Tons of Waste On-Site Tons of Waste Off-Site Tons of Waste Sold
Texas 1 13,454,000 1 8,915 576,810 6,490,800 148,480 1,321,800 4,916,110
Pennsylvania 2 11,057,650 4 5,639 1,076,700 2,536,500 586,050 1,018,000 5,840,400
Kentucky 3 8,599,400 6 4,853 2,298,000 3,409,900 470,400 926,900 1,494,200
Indiana 4 8,528,650 3 5,958 2,273,450 2,820,400 675,400 849,800 1,909,600
Ohio 5 7,836,700 2 6,594 2,667,300 899,900 1,438,800 1,120,800 1,709,900
West Virginia 6 6,190,900 5 4,990 896,200 3,118,400 521,800 678,800 975,700
Florida 7 5,180,787 12 3,029 74,000 1,335,300 287,400 448,087 3,036,000
Illinois 8 4,411,100 9 3,264 747,800 8,000 102,400 1,531,400 2,021,500
North Carolina 9 4,008,200 10 3,243 1,344,200 607,200 860,900 250,500 945,400
New Mexico 10 3,799,300 30 870 517,100 89,300 517,700 2,056,000 619,200
Georgia 11 3,508,910 7 4,192 1,541,900 825,610 29,400 69,100 1,042,900
Tennessee 12 3,505,220 16 2,176 632,100 732,600 287,700 235,520 1,617,300
Alabama 13 3,200,700 11 3,175 1,810,400 903,500 104,500 107,500 274,800
North Dakota 14 3,001,100 8 3,419 334,800 1,736,400 393,700 54,400 481,800
New York 15 2,838,410 29 1,000 - 699,990 932,000 797,560 408,860
Arizona 16 2,775,030 19 1,795 387,900 1,148,730 - 6,500 1,231,900
Utah 17 2,366,700 17 2,027 131,000 1,475,200 495,000 - 265,500
Missouri 18 2,332,150 14 2,469 779,150 221,700 29,800 222,300 1,079,200
Virginia 19 2,329,200 18 1,877 448,200 943,000 18,000 819,200 100,800
Michigan 20 2,129,700 13 2,524 669,200 769,500 325,600 14,500 350,900
Wyoming 21 2,106,300 23 1,306 448,100 950,400 - 193,000 514,800
South Carolina 22 2,091,490 15 2,315 301,050 377,100 88,700 111,470 1,213,170
Maryland 23 1,932,740 20 1,594 28,100 420,300 22,240 788,600 673,500
Louisiana 24 1,629,300 31 838 191,300 691,100 10,600 - 736,300
Colorado 25 1,607,970 21 1,442 5,700 655,080 49,050 735,900 162,240
Minnesota 26 1,544,110 28 1,022 813,910 420,400 133,500 9,100 167,200
Wisconsin 27 1,480,900 22 1,406 11,000 267,700 159,200 500 1,042,500
Oklahoma 28 1,462,300 27 1,180 16,560 123,900 46,010 547,400 728,430
Washington 29 1,405,220 39 279 - 424,220 103,600 - 877,400
Kansas 30 1,386,400 25 1,253 194,300 539,200 7,800 46,800 598,300
Mississippi 31 1,308,100 26 1,196 99,100 707,000 20,600 700 480,700
Iowa 32 1,228,100 24 1,284 201,700 151,600 70,400 198,900 605,500
Montana 33 1,018,900 37 364 963,600 - 8,100 - 47,200
Maine 34 892,110 46 20 - 858,700 400 33,010 -
Arkansas 35 784,567 32 784 59,700 284,640 3,080 - 437,147
Nevada 36 771,600 36 391 - 477,200 200 - 294,200
New Jersey 37 642,300 35 488 - - 11,300 532,700 98,300
Nebraska 38 595,000 33 630 - 166,500 49,800 17,300 361,400
Massachusetts 39 384,890 34 581 - - 42,600 209,590 132,700
Delaware 40 284,100 38 316 - 149,000 22,200 112,100 800
New Hampshire 41 177,650 40 210 - 2,600 28,700 90,050 56,300
Connecticut 42 172,730 41 160 - - - 172,730 -
Oregon 43 99,900 42 114 - 17,500 - - 82,400
South Dakota 44 97,300 43 0,082 000,000 0,080,100 000,000 0,000,000 0,017,200
Hawaii 45 51,500 44 46 - - - 51,500 -
California 46 50,400 45 38 - - 50,000 400 -
Idaho 47 26,800 - - 0 0 0 26,800 0

For the Top 100 existing coal plants by tons of waste, click here. To download more data in Excel, including detailed plant-level information for both existing and proposed plants, click here.

Sources: permit applications and news reports for new plants, Energy Information Administration data, NRDC estimates. The most recent data available from the EIA is from 2005 and it is possible that operational changes at particular plants will have changed the yearly waste volumes and disposal methods. Click here for detailed glossary of terms and our methodology.

last revised 3/12/2009

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