Conde Nast Portfolio.com, an online business news site, listed the “toxic ten” companies that they believe are contributing to global warming through pollution and energy consumption.

Not only are these companies not complying with environmental safety standards set by the E.P.A., but they’re also not following the green standards that they set for themselves.

Corporate Companies to Avoid

Here are Portfolio’s Toxic Ten companies listed under their specific categories:

Food

• J.R. Simplot Company – Dumps a deadly amount of phosphorous into the Portneuf River in Idaho.
• Cargill – Dumps toxic substances such as VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) into the North Fork Shenandoah River in Virginia.

Cars

• Ford Motor - Second-worst fleetwide gas-mileage rating in both 2006 and 2007.

Aerospace

• Boeing – Laboratory exceeds limits on dumping dioxin, lead and mercury into California waters.

Technology

• Apple – iPhone and iPod headphone cords are known to contain the toxin phthalate, which may cause birth defects.

Utilities

• Southern Co. – Operates a plant in Georgia that is the number one sulfur-dioxide producer in America.
• American Electric Power – Plant in West Virginia releases more than 20 billion pounds of toxins into the air each year.

Energy

• Massey Energy – Has over 4,000 counts of illegally dumping coal sludge into waterways in Kentucky and West Virginia.
• Chevron – Has faced over $1.8 billion in water and land pollution fines over the last five years in California.

Aluminum

• Alcoa – Received over $9.2 million in penalties in 2006 for violating clean air standards.

You can read the entire Toxic Ten article here.

Every company should do its part to ensure the preservation of our environment. Whether you’re a small local organization or a worldwide corporation, the green standards that you set and follow are just as important to your consumers as the products that you provide.