First the bad news: Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. Now the “good news”: We are a leader in reducing carbon-dioxide emissions.

As Russian economist Andrei Illarionov, Bill Clinton, and nearly a century of statistical data will tell you, carbon-dioxide growth closely tracks U.S. economic growth.

That correlation is on painful display here in Michigan, which the Worldwatch Institute found in a study last October has the lowest rate of carbon-dioxide growth among the eight Midwest states — a meager 1 percent from 1990-2003 – “due in large part to Michigan’s unique decline in total emissions from the electric generation and industrial sectors in this period.”

In other words, we are in recession and hemorrhaging population.

The Midwest, America’s industrial engine, accounts for 25 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions. Michigan is #9 nationally and dropping (Texas and California are one and two).

A comparison between Michigan and Minnesota (the second-highest CO2-growth Midwest state) is instructive. Both states actually have relatively low per-capita carbon emissions due to high non-coal energy generation: Michigan has nukes; Minnesota has nukes, hydro, and wind. (Which is why I choose Minnesota for comparison not Missouri – the number one Midwest state for CO2 growth at 26 percent but heavily reliant on coal.)

Yet, Minnesota’s CO2 emissions still grew a whopping 20 percent!

Why? “Increases in these sectors most likely were partly driven by above-average growth in both population and economic output,” says Worldwatch. “Between 1997 and 2003, Minnesota’s population grew by 6 percent, while its GDP grew by 21 percent. In both instances, calculated growth was nearly double that experienced by the Midwest region as a whole.”

Michigan’s CO2 growth is significantly lower than both the region (15 percent) and the nation (16 percent) during the 13-year time period (most of which coincided with the Clinton/Gore administration, I might add).

Michigan’s news may cheer greens, but it has been extremely difficult for Michigan’s citizens.