The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a new database yesterday showing 2010 greenhouse gas emissions for large facilities across the country. After the jump I’ve posted the top 10 emitters in Iowa.

The EPA figures are based on 2010 emissions of three major greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane), as reported by “large facilities” during 2011.

Nationally and in Iowa, power plants remain the largest source of greenhouse gases. Go to this page and select Iowa to view a map and a list of 135 emitters that reported to the EPA.

This pie chart shows that in Iowa, power plants produced 67.8 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from major facilities in 2010. “Other industrial” facilities produced 19.4 percent of those emissions, followed by the chemicals sector (4.8 percent), minerals (3.2 percent), landfills (1.6 percent), metals (1.6 percent), and government/commercial (1.6 percent).

It’s no surprise that Iowa’s top greenhouse gas emitter by a wide margin was the Walter Scott Jr. Energy Center, a huge coal-fired power plant in Council Bluffs (Pottawattamie County). The rest of the top ten:

George Neal North, a coal-fired power plant in Sergeant Bluff (Woodbury County)

Louisa, a coal-fired power plant in Muscatine (Muscatine County)

George Neal South, a coal-fired power plant in Salix (Woodbury County)

Ottumwa coal-fired power plant (Wapello County)

ADM Corn Processing, an “other industrial” facility in Cedar Rapids (Linn County)

Muscatine coal-fired power plant (Muscatine County)

ADM Corn Processing in Clinton (Clinton County)

Port Neal chemical plant in Sergeant Bluff (Woodbury County)

Prairie Creek coal-fired power plant in Cedar Rapids (Linn County)

Several of the Iowa power plants listed here were also named in a recent Environmental Integrity Project report on the worst toxic air polluters nationwide.

At the EPA site, you can click on the names of individual Iowa facilities for details on their carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane emissions.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

P.S. – Mother Jones put together a slideshow of the 10 worst greenhouse gas emitters nationally, based on the new EPA database. None of them are in Iowa.