Miami, Seattle Named Cleanest Cities
Miami, Fla., and Seattle, Wash., claim the top two spots on Forbes magazine's list of America's Cleanest Cities for 2008.
The city's mayors were quite pleased.
"During my 2003 State of the City address, I issued a challenge to make Miami one of the cleanest large cities in the country," said Mayor Manny Diaz. "I am pleased to see that our efforts have not gone unnoticed. City staff and the people of the city of Miami deserve great praise in helping us achieve this honor and distinction."
"Getting recognized for our environmental work is always a pleasant surprise," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. "But it's no accident. Our water, transportation, and energy policies are geared toward leaving a better planet for our children and grandchildren."
Forbes initially measured the rankings for air pollution and ozone levels among all 49 U.S. metro areas with populations exceeding 1 million, using data from the American Lung Association. The research team then measured the cities on additional, but less-weighted factors of water quality and per-capita spending on Superfund site cleanup and solid-waste management.
Seattle spends more on waste-management per capita than any other major city, Forbes determined.
Water cleanliness rankings were derived from statistics compiled by the University of Cincinnati from local reports of EPA violations. Metros were ranked based on reports of bacteria, chlorine byproducts, and chemicals or metals such as arsenic, copper, and lead in the drinking water.
The remaining top 10 cities are
3. Jacksonville, Fla.
4. Orlando, Fla.
5. Portland, Ore.
6. San Francisco, Calif.
7. Oklahoma City, Okla.
8. Tampa-St. Petersburg
9. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
10. San Jose-Sunnyvale, Calif.