Kentucky's biggest air polluters sit near monitors that measure something else

Circles show the 10 industrial facilities that released the most TRI-reported pollution to Kentucky's air in 2024. Not one of the ten has a monitor within 25 miles that measures its largest single pollutant, and for eight of them no monitor in any U.S. network measures it at all.

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Air releases are stack plus fugitive emissions as reported by the facility to EPA's Toxics Release Inventory for 2024, summed across all chemicals. Monitor locations and the pollutants each measures come from EPA's Air Quality System; a monitor counts as active if it recorded a sample in 2024 or later. Distances are straight-line and cross state borders.

Chart: Brad Racino / FloodlightSource: EPA Toxics Release Inventory (2024) and EPA Air Quality SystemGet the data