You may think that the certain states that have the best economies in the U.S. are also the worst polluters in the country, but what the Associated Press found out is that that particular notion isn't exactly accurate.

As a matter of fact, the level of pollution is actually more relative to the measures that each state takes to curb the threat of global warming by minimizing the exhaust of carbon dioxide through legislation and technology. You probably won't believe that Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and Alaska are among the most notorious.

The Associate Press found out through an investigation spanning almost four years which started in 2003 that coal-fired power plants that used to generate cheap electricity is actually the major source of air pollution. Second are emissions from vehicles that include cars and aircraft. When tallied, it reflects that Texas is, by far, leading the charge towards catastrophic climate change.

As a matter of fact, the amount of carbon dioxide that Texas gives off is more than that of second and third placers California and New York. It's also interesting to point out that California and Pennsylvania have twice that of Texas' population.

Frank O'Donnell of Washington's environmental group says, "Some states are benefiting from both cheap electricity while polluting the planet and make all the rest of us suffer the consequences of global warming." He added, "I don't think that's fair at all."

Under the U.S. federal system, individual states have the right to decide what mode of power sourcing they want. Environmentalists and critics of the Bush administration have pointed to the White House as the holder of the key to the deadlock by coming up with measures that will set up a blanket policy to cover all the states. A possible adoption of the Kyoto Protocol that seeks to cut emissions was rejected by President Bush in 2001, favoring technological measures to cut air pollution. Implementation and results have yet to be shown.