State's carbon dioxide output up
It tops a list of gainers as the U.S. overall drops.
By SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer
Published: 4/9/2009 2:30 AM

Oklahoma has topped a list for having the biggest increase of carbon dioxide emissions while the rest of the country's total output actually shows a 3.1 percent drop in 2008. Oklahoma released 3.1 million tons of carbon dioxide from 2007 to 2008, according to the Environmental Integrity Project, which released the report this week. EIP described Oklahoma's increase as "massive" and attributed it directly to increased generation at OG&E's coal units in Muskogee and the Sooner units at Red Rock, as well as AEP-PSO's coal and natural gas units in Oologah. OG&E Electric Services spokesman Brian Alford said the increase in 2008 was created by a number of unit outages at coal facilities in 2007. A return to more historic levels was seen in 2008, he said. Alford said there are three reasons why less energy was used in 2007:

• It was a milder, wet summer and less air-conditioning was needed.


• A severe ice storm in eastern Oklahoma that left thousands without power for more than a week.


• No off-system export of coal-fire generation. The overall reduction in carbon dioxide in the rest of the country has been attributed to the economic downturn and mild

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