MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota has made yet another list. Wallethub has named Minnesota the 7th Greenest State in the country.
The report, released on April 18, looked at three main categories: environmental quality, eco-friendly behaviors, and climate-change contributions.
The study examined different environmental factors like air, water, and soil quality. They also looked at the number of green buildings, energy consumption from renewable sources, gas, water, and energy consumption.
“This ranking reaffirms Minnesota’s commitment to affordable, reliable, and clean energy,” Lt. Gov. Tina Smith told Alpha News. “Ten years ago, Minnesota enacted the bipartisan Next Generation Energy Act, and today more than 21 percent of Minnesota’s electricity comes from renewable sources. If we redouble our efforts, and raise Minnesota’s Renewable Energy Standard to 50 percent by 2030, we will improve air quality, continue to drive down the cost of renewable energy, and generate thousands of new energy jobs.”Minnesota is ranked third in the nation for water quality, behind Washington state and Connecticut. As Alpha News reported on Wednesday, Minnesotans rallied at the Capitol for clean water, where Gov. Mark Dayton talked about his goals to improve Minnesota’s water quality by an additional 25 percent by 2025.
Tied for first with Michigan, South Dakota, Washington state, and Wisconsin, Minnesota was also ranked highest in the nation for soil quality, in which Wallethub looked at the pH level of the soil.
The state also ranked second in the nation for highest percentage of recycled municipal solid waste. This comes after an Alpha News report that detailed the recycling troubles St. Paul faced earlier this year.
The study did find one area that Minnesota could improve on. Wallethub ranked Minnesota 31st in the nation for climate-change contribution. The category looked at the state’s per capita emissions when it comes to carbon-dioxide, methane, nitrous-oxide, and fluorinated greenhouse-gas. Montana was ranked 50th in the nation in this category, while neighbors North Dakota and South Dakota were ranked 48th and 45th respectively.
Wallethub also found that blue states are more likely to be eco-friendly than red states. Blue states had an average score of 12.70, while red states had an average rank of 34.03.
Preya Samsundar
Preya Samsundar was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN. She graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities this Spring with a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology, with a minor in Strategic Communications. Preya has previously worked on several State Campaign Races.
