Comparing the states: Air quality penalties

 

Pennsylvania has the largest amounts of penalties for facilities violating air quality standards in 2012 among the Great Lakes states, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Michigan has the smallest.

The figures come from an EPA map that reports state compliance with regulations. The map’s dashboard allows users to choose different measures and different years.

Here are the amounts of penalties incurred by major facilities with air quality violations for each state along with the number of major facilities for each state:

Pennsylvania: $3,646,379; to 591 major facilities.

Ohio: $2,355,680; to 575 major facilities.

Wisconsin: $1,875,000; to 452 major facilities.

Minnesota: $1,033,507; to 288 major facilities.

Indiana: $746,550; to 610 major facilities.

New York: $710,775; to 422 major facilities.

Illinois: $569,100; to 486 major facilities.

Michigan: $118,500; to 387 major facilities.

Of course, some states have more facilities than others. If you consider all facilities, both major and non-major, evaluated by the EPA in 2012, here’s how the states rank in terms of penalty amount per facility. This doesn’t mean that any one facility received that penalty; a handful of facilities with very high penalties could significantly affect the ranking:

Wisconsin: $8,047 per facility of 233 evaluated facilities.

Ohio: $7,445 per facility of 536 evaluated facilities.

Minnesota: $6,817 per facility of 163 evaluated facilities.

Pennsylvania: $4,333 per facility of 990 evaluated facilities.

New York: $3,327 per facility of 431 evaluated facilities.

Indiana: $2,113 per facility of 440 evaluated facilities.

Illinois: $1,975 per facility of 350 evaluated facilities.

Michigan: $440 per facility of 414 evaluated facilities.

Pennsylvania moves from first to fourth place and Michigan remains least penalized.