Vermont is the greenest state in the U.S.

One of the most startling findings on our list is that California doesn't crack the top 10, despite routinely setting the bar for environmental policy. At least five of its metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, Bakersfield and Fresno, appear on the American Lung Association's 2007 list of cities with the worst long-term smog and ozone pollution. And 69 percent of its major water facilities exceeded their Clean Water Act permit limits at least once in 2005, according to PIRG. That's the 10th worst percentage in the country.

Likewise, there's no Rocky Mountain high in the top 10. Colorado, famous for outdoor recreation, does have great air quality, but its carbon footprint per capita is only the 24th best in the nation. It doesn't have particularly poor water quality or energy efficiency policies or an abnormally high amount of toxic waste, but the state's rankings in these categories aren't outstanding either. It clocks in at No. 13 on our survey.

A bit about our methodology — we ranked each state in six equally weighted categories: carbon footprint, air quality, water quality, hazardous waste management, policy initiatives and energy consumption.

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Because carbon dioxide is the most prevalent greenhouse gas, carbon footprint provides a fairly good example of overall emissions levels. For air quality, we have relied on the American Lung Association's 2007 State of the Air Report to determine which metro areas have the best and worst pollution. Because EPA's most recent comprehensive data on water quality is five years old, we have relied on PIRG's water assessment released in October 2007 to complete our analysis in that area. Each state's hazardous waste management per capita has been determined using the most recent information available (2005) from EPA.

For our rankings on policy initiatives, we use the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's energy efficiency scorecard, released in June 2007. Regarding energy consumption and lifestyle choice, we examined a number of factors, including vehicle miles traveled and the number of alternative fuel and hybrid-electric vehicles per capita by state, as well as the number of buildings that have received the U.S. Green Building Council's energy efficient "LEED" certification. We have also relied on information from the Energy Information Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club. All data are the most recent available.

So who's at the bottom? Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Indiana and, at No. 50, West Virginia. All suffer from a mix of toxic waste, lots of pollution and consumption and no clear plans to do anything about it. Expect them to remain that way.

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