A new Government Accounting Office report has mapped the locations of some 284 tall smokestacks, 500 feet or higher, around the country. The purpose of tall stacks, located primarily at coal-fired power plants, is to lift sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and other pollutants high enough into the air that they can avoid concentrated pollution in the immediate area. But the pollutants are carried downwind and eventually settle in diluted form.
And guess who’s in the path of all that pollution? Primarily the Mid-Atlantic states, Virginia in particular. I just report the facts. You can draw your own conclusions. (Click on map for more legible image.)