Nine of West Virginia's 10 biggest air polluters emit something no U.S. monitor measures

Red circles show the 10 industrial facilities that released the most TRI-reported pollution to West Virginia's air in 2024. Seven of the ten are coal-fired power plants whose largest air release is sulfuric acid aerosol — a pollutant no U.S. network measures, EPA's or NADP's.

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