Alberta and Ontario have been singled out in a new report evaluating the sources of air pollution and greenhouse gases.

According to the PollutionWatch study to be released Thursday by Environmental Defence and the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Alberta is responsible for more than a quarter of Canada's total air pollutants and 40% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Ontario fares only marginally better, accounting for 21% of air pollutants and 28% of greenhouse gases.

Aaron Freeman, a policy director for Environmental Defence, says the report "highlights the need for mandatory federal standards on air pollution."

"We currently only have voluntary standards,” Freeman told CanWest News Service.

Ontario, he said, could cut back its emissions dramatically by shutting down its coal-fired power plants  - something Freeman suggested would move it 50-80% within its Kyoto targets. According to the study, Ontario Power Generation is the third largest emitter of air pollution in the country and the top emitter of greenhouse gases.

Alberta's pollution is also due to its coal-fired plants, in combination with the oilsands production.

TransAlta Utilities Corp., Saskatchewan Power Corp. and Alberta Power Ltd. sit right behind Ontario Power Generation as the largest sources of greenhouse gases. Three Alberta companies - Syncrude Canada Ltd., EPCOR Power Development Corporation and Suncor Energy Inc - hold the sixth, seventh and eighth spots on the top greenhouse gas emitters list.

Alberta and Ontario are well ahead of third-place Saskatchewan, which accounted for 8% of total emissions, among the top producers of greenhouse gases. And Alberta stands to widen its lead if it moves ahead with further development projects in the oilsands region. The Ontario government, on the other hand, has said it plans to shut down its coal-fired power plants.

Industry currently accounts for about half of emissions in Canada. Environmental groups have targeted those emissions because they believe they are easier to cap than those from ordinary Canadians.

"If you deal with the biggest emitters first, I think you would deal with a significant portion of the problem," said Fe de Leon, a researcher at the Canadian Environmental Law Association.

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