Well, this doesn’t bode well for this nation’s pollution. Let’s do a quick rundown of the states we think are probably pushing federal pollution limits: California, New York, New Jersey, maybe Pennsylvania, let’s say Texas, and…Iowa? Wait. Double check that. Yup. Iowa.

An investigation by the Des Moines Register found that the state is, well, dirty.

The air across Iowa is so polluted that the state is perilously close to violating new federal limits aimed at protecting human health. Yet Iowans have no way of knowing what chemicals they are breathing because of a limited - and often inaccurate - system of monitoring pollution statewide…Catharine Fitzsimmons, Iowa’s top air-quality official, defended Iowa’s existing air-monitoring system. Yet she said the state is under orders from the federal government to better monitor fine-particle and ozone pollution, among Iowa’s most pressing air-quality problems.

You’re probably not doing a great job if the government is ordering you to do better, but whatever. What’s interesting is that the pollution isn’t necessarily coming from where you might think.

The Register investigation shows the largest emissions in some counties come from places you wouldn’t expect: cement plants, quarries, small colleges and state prisons, as well as power plants, ethanol manufacturers, co-ops and other manufacturers.

Of course, Iowa pollution isn’t as bad as many other states, but given the perception I think a lot of us have about the wide open Midwest, it maybe isn’t such a great sign that even this state is dangerously polluted. Maybe we should do something about this, kinda sorta? Just a thought.