Louisiana ranks second-worst among U.S. states when examining a wide range of environmental indicators, including water and air quality, energy use and recycling, according to an analysis released Tuesday (April 17) by personal finance website WalletHub.
Louisiana ranked only better than West Virginia in the study. The bottom five also included Kentucky, North Dakota and Alabama. The "greenest" state in the union was Vermont, followed by Oregon, Massachusetts, New York and South Dakota.
WalletHub used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Chemistry Council, United Health Foundation, Green Building Council and a dozen other sources.
WalletHub says environmental sustainability and financial health are closely linked.
"Our environmental and financial needs are the same in many areas: providing ourselves with sustainable, clean drinking water and food, for example," the report says. "We also spend money through our own consumption and taxes in support of environmental security."
WalletHub highlighted the growing financial toll natural disasters take on the economy. Last year, 17 storms caused about $200 billion in property damage. Human-caused climate change is aggravating the problem, experts say.
"Experts attribute the high number of hurricanes to an unusually warm Atlantic, so it's possible that living more sustainably and using greener energy sources could prevent us from having quite as bad hurricane seasons in the future," the study says.
For each state, WalletHub analyzed 23 areas, including soil quality, municipal waste production and average commute times, and assigned a grade on a 100-point scale. The point average across all areas was used to calculate each state's total score.
Louisiana ranked worst in recycling. Only 1 percent of the municipal waste produced in Louisiana was recycled, according to the study. In sharp contrast, number one-ranked Maine recycles 48 percent of its waste.
Louisiana also ranged near the bottom in renewable energy consumption (49th), the number of alternative fuel stations per 100,000 residents (48th), per capita carbon dioxide emissions (47th) and per capita methane emissions (47th).
The state achieved its best ranking in green buildings, coming in at number 12 in the percentage of structures that minimize energy and other resource use. The Green Building Information Gateway lists 106 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings in Louisiana. More than half were in New Orleans.