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Ukraine war throws lifeline to Big Oil

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Source: mmmavocado / Flickr

By Bill Sternberg, Callaway Climate Insights

(Bill Sternberg is a veteran Washington journalist and former editorial page editor of USA Today.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine has scrambled the climate debate here in ways that were nearly unthinkable just months ago.

Last year, the fossil fuel industry was on the defensive. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden killed the Keystone Pipeline project to carry oil from western Canada to U.S. refineries. Later in 2021, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would have raised more than $100 billion in revenue from fossil fuel interests, restricted drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, increased royalty fees for drilling on federal land, and imposed an escalating charge on methane emissions. The Securities and Exchange Commission began drafting rules to force corporations to disclose carbon emissions and climate risks. Activist investors portrayed the major energy companies as dinosaurs and pressed them to move more quickly toward decarbonization.

What a difference an invasion makes. In the wake of Russia’s attack, Big Oil is making a big comeback. Abiding by the adage that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” industry executives and their congressional allies are using the war to press for pipeline approvals, more drilling rights and greater exports of natural gas. . . .

To read more of this column, all our insights, news and in-depth interviews, please subscribe and support our great climate finance journalism.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

Accidental Discoveries That Changed the World

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Source: artisteer / iStock via Getty Images

Serendipity is defined as an unplanned event or discovery with a beneficial outcome. The word was coined by English writer Horace Walpole in 1754, in reference to a story called “The Three Princes of Serendip.” The tale recounts the adventures of three princes who make accidental discoveries through luck rather than skill. 

Accidental discoveries are not uncommon in the world of scientific investigation. Many useful substances, including Teflon and Scotchgard, were invented by chemists who were attempting to create something for an altogether unrelated application. (The chemist who invented Scotchgard was a woman? Here are 50 inventions you never knew were invented by women.)

Biochemist and science fiction author Isaac Asimov once said that “the most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny.'” “That’s funny” is exactly what microbiologist Alexander Fleming said when he found that Penicillium mold had contaminated a petri dish and destroyed the bacteria he was experimenting with. His lab accident led to the discovery of penicillin – the world’s first broadly effective antibiotic.

24/7 Tempo has compiled 31 accidental discoveries that changed the world by reviewing sources including History, Reader’s Digest, and Business Insider. In some cases, an initial accidental discovery by one person led to a later invention by another. Only the initial discovery is recounted.

While a few are folk accounts of early discoveries, the majority are inventions and discoveries made by scientists, engineers, doctors, and hobby inventors who were following one path when they stumbled upon another. 

Many serendipitous discoveries have revolutionized the pharmaceutical and medical fields, while others have influenced the worlds of fashion, cosmetics, home appliances, and children’s toys. Some of these happy accidents have drastically improved everyday life. (Here are also 30 NASA inventions we still use everyday.)

Click here to see the accidental discoveries that changed the world

Wartime air route changes, oil, add to Covid chaos for airlines

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Source: aapsky / Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

As President Joe Biden finally banned Russian oil and gasoline prices this morning surged past $6 here in California, the inflationary punch of Putin’s War is hitting drivers hard. Food prices tied to Ukrainian wheat and technology components tied to minerals such as nickel from Russia will also soar in coming days.

One overlooked victim will be global airline prices, as airlines suffer from not only higher fuel costs but longer, more carbon-intensive routes in long-haul flights to avoid Russian airspace. Shares of United Airlines (UAL), Delta (DAL) and American (AAL) all fell more than a third since Putin invaded Ukraine, and Federal Express (FDX) is down almost 20%.

Global airlines, which connect the U.S. and Europe to Southeast Asia, will need to add hours, and costly fuel, to each of their routes, resulting in higher fees for travelers just as the world is emerging from the latest Covid wave.

For airlines, which were among the hardest industries hit by Covid, soaring fuel and now a wartime shift in strategic air routes is the perfect storm of challenges. For climate watchers worried that the 12% of carbon emissions from the air travel industry will now rise further, it’s another sign of how climate change work has been suspended during the European war.

As the second anniversary of the global Covid lockdown approaches next week, and the two-year mark next month since oil prices actually went negative when the world economy stalled, investors should reflect on the lessons of history in how quickly a sure bet can turn upside down.

More insights below . . . .

Book Review: How H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine predicted climate change more than a century ago

. . . . There’s no shortage of new climate change books on Amazon but for true inspiration, Jack Hamilton went back to 1895, when H.G. Wells published The Time Machine, an eerily prescient work that foresaw the effects of climate change, income inequality and, more ominously, the death of knowledge. Think 2050’s going to be bad, try the year 802,701. . . .

Read the full review

Tuesday’s subscriber insights: The coming EV battery brand wars

 . . Time was when car enthusiasts would boast about the power of their auto engines. There was Chrysler’s Hemi, Jaguar’s straight 6, the small-black Chevy V8, the diesel Cummins 6BT and more. Now, it looks like they’ll be bragging about their EV batteries as new technologies are developed amid urgency over range, weight safety and cost. Bet your 4680 is no match for my Ultium. Read more here . . .

. . . . With congestion pricing already in several world cities — including London, Singapore, Stockholm and Milan — the antipollution (and fund-raising) trend is due to spread to New York’s Manhattan in 2023. But Oxford in the U.K. may have come with the most creative concept yet: A fee for all cars that are not all-electric. Read more here. . . .

. . . . Soaring gasoline prices, seesawing of energy prices around the world… At the heart of the matter is that renewable energy is local. Wind farms and solar arrays will supply local markets and, eventually, stabilize energy prices. It will take short-term measures, such as increasing non-Russian LNG supplies to Europe, to ease the crisis, but the long term will belong to renewables. Read more here.

. . . . Insulated by some of the lowest oil and gas prices in the Western world, Americans — unlike their European counterparts — have been somewhat lazy in making sure their homes are properly weatherized. But they sure have insulation on their minds now. Incentives for weatherizing, heat pumps and other energy efficiency upgrades are, well, heating up. Read more here. . . .

Editor’s picks: Slush for mushers; ‘climate doctors’ needed

Wet, warm start to the 50th Iditarod

The 50th annual running of the Iditarod Trail sled dog race saw 49 teams begin the ceremonial start of the race in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, mushing through warm, sloppy mushy conditions. A report from Reuters notes how the races had been impacted by climate changes and Covid, with competitors and spectators still operating under some pandemic conditions. According to the report, top musher Nic Petit pulled out after testing positive for Covid right before the start of the race, and asked four-time champion Jeff King to step in and drive Petit’s team. In recent years, warm weather forced organizers to move the race start farther north to Anchorage, and in 2020, flooding swamped sea ice in the final stretch of the race. Three teams had to be rescued from the area.

The world needs ‘climate doctors’

There’s growing sentiment among healthcare providers that the climate change fight is becoming their fight, too. So writes Jay Lemery in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times. He is a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, co-director of its Climate & Health Program and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Based on the UN’s APCC report last week, he writes, healthcare professionals are ready “to act on solutions that address social inequities, vary our responses based on a wide range of climate risks and make our adaptation to climate change better at reducing harm. Humans can expect more widespread sickness, injuries and disease from a changing climate. Healthcare is accordingly coalescing around the idea that we need to upgrade our medical training programs to address climate — and even train ‘climate doctors.’” He adds that climate doctors can lead on smart policy through education, environmental justice, research, decarbonization and accountability.

Data driven: The Dead Zone

. . . . Each year, NOAA-supported scientists from Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium cruise out into the Gulf of Mexico to measure the Dead Zone, also known as the hypoxic zone, where low oxygen levels near the bottom are insufficient to support most marine life. The annual hypoxic zone size determination is a key metric used by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force to measure progress toward achieving the 5-year average target of 1,900-square-miles or smaller by 2035. In 2021, the dead zone measured 6,334 square miles, equivalent to more than four million acres of habitat potentially unavailable to fish and bottom species. As the annual survey cruise is only a snapshot of the hypoxic zone, calculating a 5-year average captures the true dynamic nature of the zone more than a single annual measurement. NOAA quotes Steven Thur, director of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, as saying: “The data from this cruise are used by NOAA and its partners to help refine the models and more accurately simulate how river discharge, nutrient loads and oceanographic conditions influence hypoxic conditions in the Gulf and impact living resources. By understanding the scale and effects of these hypoxia events, we can better inform the best strategies to reduce its size and minimize impacts to our coastal resources and economy.”. . .

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

This Is the Least Densely Populated Country in the World

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Source: Vadim_Nefedov / Getty Images

Of the 7.9 billion people in the world, some live in terribly crowded areas and some others in areas so remote they may not see other humans regularly. The U.S is a microcosm of this. New Jersey’s density is 1,210 people per square mile. In areas in and around New York City, the figure is over 50,000. Alaska’s is 1.3.

Even less densely populated than Alaska is Greenland, with less than 1 person per square mile. The island nation is the least densely populated country in the world. (On the flip side, this is the most densely-populated city in the world.)

There are 57.3 million square miles of land on Earth, yet 95% of the planet’s human population inhabits only 10% of that land, according to the World Bank. What about the other 90% of the land? How sparsely populated are these parts, and where are they?

To identify the least densely populated country on Earth, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed population density data from the World Bank for about 270 countries. Information on land area came from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Some of the least densely-populated countries are also among the 25 largest countries in the world.

Climate and geography play a significant role in population density. The most sparsely populated areas on Earth tend to be those with limited access to freshwater, including deserts and arctic zones, as well as those with dense impassable rain forests, rugged mountains, or those isolated from continental zones by miles of ocean.

In Greenland, the population of 56,367 spreads over 158,476 square miles. But about 80% of those are covered by a massive glacier. The country’s arctic and subarctic temperatures range from the 30s to the 50s in the summer and are consistently below zero in the winter. Most of the population live on the southwest coast, which has the mildest climate.

Click here for the least densely populated countries in the world

Investors brace as banks weigh Russia exits

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Source: Vladimir Arndt / iStock via Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

(David Callaway is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Callaway Climate Insights. He is the former president of the World Editors Forum, Editor-in-Chief of USA Today and MarketWatch, and CEO of TheStreet Inc.)

As energy companies worldwide pulled out of Russia last week and governments argued about whether to stop buying Russian oil, one constituency we didn’t hear much from was the banks and asset managers.

That’s because they were furiously huddled together in boardrooms around the world trying to figure out their exposure and whether they can, or should, pull out of their Russian stock holdings, bank loans, private equity commitments and venture capital deals. This week we should expect to start hearing from some of them, and with that the Wall Street guessing game about who is the most exposed.

Unlike with the collapse of Lehman Brothers 14 years ago, most Western financial companies have limited exposure to Russia. It’s a small, emerging market and unless you’re in energy or commodities, assets are likely in the single percentages. But that still adds up to hundreds of billions of dollars, so the destruction of wealth set to be announced will be very real. . . .

To read this column, all our insights, news and in-depth interviews, please subscribe and support our great climate finance journalism.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

Ford split just more ESG spin; plus why red states love blue energy plans

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Source: David McNew / Getty Images News via Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

One of the old axioms in investment banking is that whether you’re putting companies together or taking them apart, you get paid either way. After a run of several years of record mergers and acquisitions, big U.S. companies began splitting their businesses apart last year, arguing it was a better way to realize value in a strong stock market.

General Electric (GE), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Toshiba splits were all announced in one week together last fall. Now Ford Motor (F) is splitting its electric vehicle business, which it sees as its future, from its traditional internal combustion engine car business. The idea is that it can build the EV operation faster as a separate unit inside the company.

That may be true, and Ford shares rose on the announcement this week, but the road to new corporate eras is paved with potholes, especially when you plan to maintain your old business to make money too, as Ford does. Simply separating EVs won’t earn Ford any more points from environmental, social and governance investors than it does for an energy company — Peabody Coal for example this week — to launch a solar operation. As long as you’re still digging, producing and selling coal, your footprint is the same.

Total SA, France’s largest energy company, learned that the hard way this week when it was sued by environmentalists for misleading investors about climate change, who said its claims it can go net zero while still producing oil were essentially greenwashing.

Companies are trying any way they can think of to get credit from environmental, social and governance investors, and Ford should be applauded for its plans to invest up to $50 billion in electric vehicles in coming years. It has correctly identified what could be a long-term, game-changing market in EVs. But as long as it is still squeezing every last dime from gas-powered cars and trucks it’s hard to see the real transition in this transition plan. The bankers and advisers, however, will still get paid.

More insights below . . . .

The most vital letter in ESG ratings is not what you might think

. . . . Everyone assumes that when it comes to company ratings for environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, the E most directly correlates to fighting climate change, writes Mark Hulbert. But a new study shows it’s the little-favored G, for governance. And even within the nebulous G, only management alignment drives success on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Hulbert found. It may be time to redo those ratings. . . .

Read the full column

Thursday’s subscriber insights: Exxon’s Russia exit a first sign its activist board members are making a difference

. . . . ExxonMobil, better late than never, says it’s pulling the plug on Vladimir Putin’s empire by walking away from the giant Sakhalin-1 project in Russia’s far east. Also in the late-to-the-game category, the oil giant says it plans to reduce pollution and seek “lower-emissions business opportunities.” Is Exxon changing its tone and trying to catch up with the competition? Or is shareholder activist and board member Engine No. 1 making a difference? In any case, it’s about time. Read more here. . . .

. . . . A bountiful crop of renewables is springing up in red states with an aversion for subsidies and taxes. And the harvest they’ve reaped is the discovery that the production of clean energy makes money. Don’t be surprised. Republicans overwhelmingly support green energy, according to a recent Gallup poll. But, in general, not for the same reasons as Democrats. Read more here. . . .

. . . . Fish on Valium? Right. That’s the least of their problems. Researchers have identified 58 different drugs in aquatic critters from South Florida’s coastal waters, including 17 in a single fish. They hope the data highlight the urgent need to fix our longstanding wastewater infrastructure mess. Read more here. . . .

. . . . Is pollution adding to your breathing woes? Or even causing it? Then it can’t be comforting to learn that the inhaler you use is contributing considerably to greenhouse gases. But, manufacturers have some ideas to help us all breathe a little easier. Read more here. . . .

Editor’s picks: Happy 150th birthday, Yellowstone National Park

This week marks the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Yellowstone National Park. The park was officially established by President Ulysses S. Grant, according to the National Park Service, “to preserve and protect the scenery, cultural heritage, wildlife, geologic and ecological systems and processes in their natural condition for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. … Yellowstone serves as the core of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the last and largest nearly intact natural ecosystems on the planet. Yellowstone has the most active, diverse, and intact collections of combined geothermal features with over 10,000 hydrothermal sites and half the world’s active geysers. The park is also rich in cultural and historical resources with 25 sites, landmarks, and districts on the National Register of Historic Places.” Find out more about Yellowstone and the NPS 150th anniversary celebrations.

Plans flow to demolish four California dams

In a statement that could ignite the biggest dam demolition project in U.S. history, federal regulators say there are benefits to a proposal to remove four big dams on Northern California’s Klamath River. The Associated Press reported recently that the statement by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission “clears a major regulatory hurdle for the project and paves the way for public hearings on the document before a final draft is issued as soon as this summer.” Public hearings could be scheduled for this summer on the $500 million demolition and habitat restoration project, designed to help save migratory salmon. According to the AP report, “The project on California’s second-largest river would be at the vanguard of a push to demolish dams in the U.S. as the structures age and become less economically viable and as concerns grow about their environmental impact, particularly on fish.”

World Wildlife Day

Today is UN World Wildlife Day, celebrating and raising awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. This year’s theme is “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration.” Get more information from the UN and WWF. Above, the African Penguin, is considered by WWF to be critically endangered. This week’s report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns 14% of all creatures on land are at risk of extinction, and half of all species on earth have moved toward the poles or up mountains. Some 47% of species already have lost some of their populations due to climate change, according to the IPCC report.

Words to live by . . . .

“Everything depends on our ability to sustainably inhabit this earth, and true sustainability will require us all to change our way of thinking on how we take from the earth and how we give back.” — Deb Haaland, 54th U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

This City Emits the Most Carbon Dioxide in the World

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Source: Sean Pavone / iStock via Getty Images

Carbon dioxide is an acidic colorless gas. Because it is soluble in water, it can be found in a number of liquids which include oil and natural gas. It is also a greenhouse gas found in the Earth’s atmosphere. Its concentration has increased over time because of, primarily, the burning of fossil fuels.

Because humanity has been slow to address climate with the urgency it requires, it is difficult to know how well currently revised plans and good intentions will play out. The best and most grounded national and municipal plans provide for close monitoring and plan revisions, however, allowing for the measuring of progress and the kind of reality check crucial to actual success.

To identify the city with the worst CO2 emissions in the world, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed Nangini, C et al. (2019): “A global dataset of CO2 emissions and ancillary data related to emissions for 343 cities,” published in 2017 and available through data publisher Pangaea. Emissions data were collected in each of the cities on this list between the years of 2011 and 2017, in each case the most recent year for which CO2 emissions data is available.

Emissions figures from transport, industrial, waste, and local power plants within city boundaries, as well as emissions (when available) from grid-supplied energy used by cities and produced by power plants outside city boundaries, were also obtained from the study.

The city with the worst CO2 emissions is Tokyo, Japan. Here are the details:

> Total emissions in 2014: 70.13 million tons of CO2 equivalent
> Transport, industrial, waste, and local power plants: 27.61 million tons of CO2 equivalent — #6 most in study
> Grid-supplied energy produced outside the city boundary: 42.52 million tons of CO2 equivalent — #1 most in study
> Population in 2014: 13.5 million

In its climate strategies, Tokyo does not differ greatly from other megacities, struggling more with implementation than with goal setting, but it is making headway on a transportation program that is more novel than most. The city promotes the use of hydrogen fueled vehicles, for which water is the sole byproduct. As of last year, Tokyo had installed 19 hydrogen fueling stations and was employing 70 fuel cell busses.

The research site Sciencing describes the role of carbon dioxide in greenhouse gas emissions:

“Carbon dioxide contributes to air pollution in its role in the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide traps radiation at ground level, creating ground-level ozone. This atmospheric layer prevents the earth from cooling at night.”

This past summer, the UN once again sounded the alarm about the immediate imperative to take action to reduce the emission of heat trapping gases, with the Secretary General calling the report a “code red for humanity.” While it is now too late to reverse climate change, governments can still slow its pace and work to avoid increasingly more devastating consequences.

Countries around the world are revising their climate action plans in light of frightening new data, tightening their emission goals and reinvigorating their energy greening and efficiency programs. Most have set a target of either 80% reduction or net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but, still, most are not on track to meet those goals, as their governments struggle with economic realities and lack of momentum.

Click here to see the cities that emit the most carbon dioxide in the world

The most vital letter in ESG ratings is not what you might think

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Source: Drbouz / Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — Climate-friendly investors need to pay more attention to the “G” in “ESG.”

I’m referring to the “Governance” dimension of socially responsible investing that goes by the acronym ESG. The other two dimensions, of course, are Environmental and Social. Most climate-focused investors focus only on the “E” and ignore the “G” dimension altogether.

That may be a big mistake, according to a recent study into which companies have made the most progress over the years in reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The study’s authors found that an increased “G” rating was correlated with a reduced growth rate of GHG emissions, on average. In contrast, there was no detectable statistical correlation between changes in companies’ “E” ratings and changes in GHG emission growth rates. . . .

To read this column, all our insights, news and in-depth interviews, please subscribe and support our great climate finance journalism.

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter

By David Callaway

These Are the States Most Likely to Be Hit by a Tsunami

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Source: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images News via Getty Images

An eruption of the underwater Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano triggered tsunami warnings throughout much of the Pacific, including the West Coast of the United States. It was a reminder of how dangerous these huge surges of water can be. On Christmas 2004, an earthquake under the Indian ocean triggered waves of water that killed over 230,000 people, most in a matter of hours.

In the U.S., the states that are most likely to be hit by tsunamis are basically all states that have ocean coastlines. (These are cities where hurricanes would cause the most damage.)

Some sophisticated systems have been created to protect people from tsunamis. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Tsunami Program runs the U.S. Tsunami Warning System. Its National Tsunami Warning Center covers the United States and Canada. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center covers Hawaii and much of the Pacific.

According to the NOAA, “When an earthquake occurs, seismic networks provide information about its location, depth, and magnitude to help the warning centers determine if it may have generated a tsunami and if they should issue tsunami messages.” However, the most powerful tsunamis can produce waves that race at 500 miles per hour and create surges that are 100 feet high. At this force, the water could move well inland.

The National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program has compiled detailed maps of areas of the United States that are at risk of tsunami danger. USGS.gov notes that “all U.S. ocean coasts can be impacted by tsunamis” and provides information on how people can evacuate in the event of a tsunami.

Weather.gov keeps a tsunami map based on data from the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. In addition to states, the U.S. territories covered are Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The information includes both areas that could be inundated by water and evacuation maps.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the map to identify the states that could be hit by tsunamis. States are listed alphabetically. (Here’s another list of how many tornadoes hit the U.S. each year since 1950.) Information on each area’s most recent tsunami came from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information Natural Hazards tracker. It includes meteotsunamis, which are caused by severe winds and other storms.

Outside the continental United States, both Alaska and Hawaii are at risk, according to the analysis. Other states at risk include Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

Click here to see these are the states most likely to be hit by a tsunami

This Is the State With the Most Dangerous Bridges

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Source: lavin photography / iStock via Getty Images

Among the most important aims of the Biden administration’s legislative agenda is to fix – which usually means to update and replace – vast portions of the nation’s infrastructure. This includes a wide array of projects, such as highways, broadband systems — and bridges. Bridges are at different states of disrepair nationwide, and the state with the most dangerous bridges is West Virginia. (This state has the worst highways in America.)

The bipartisan infrastructure bill (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) has paved a way for the Biden administration’s goals to be met. The cornerstones of the ambitious plan are the $52.5 billion in federal highway apportionment and the $27 billion in funding to replace, repair, and rehabilitate bridges announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration.

One of the most pressing problems is that bridges are wearing out faster than expected due to “Deferred maintenance, climate change and heavier-than-anticipated traffic,” according to Axios.

Many estimates of the cost to repair America’s bridges are much larger than the money the administration provided in the bill. The American Road & Transportation Builders Association analyzed the Transportation Department’s 2021 National Bridge Inventory and found that 36% of America’s bridges need major repair work. The organization’s total bridge count nationwide is 619,588. Of these, 43,578 are in a dangerous state and need to be repaired or replaced immediately.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the association’s 2022 Bridge Report to find the states with the most dangerous bridges. The report notes bridges that are particularly dangerous. States were ranked by the percent of bridges that are structurally deficient. Data is from the report. 

The state with the most structurally deficient bridges is Iowa with 4,504, which represents 18.9% of its 23,870 bridges. Only one state has a higher percentage of structurally deficient bridges. In West Virginia, 20.5% of bridges are structurally deficient, but the raw figure is 1,490, much lower than Iowa’s count.

To illustrate how bad the Iowa and West Virginia numbers are, note that the three states with the lowest percentage of structurally deficient bridges are Arizona, Texas, and Nevada at 1.4%, and the number of structurally deficient bridges are 117, 789, and 29, respectively. (This is the worst city to drive in every state.)

Click here to see the state with the most dangerous bridges

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