For about the past decade, this editorial page has complained that neither major political party has made environmental protection a significant issue in Indiana election campaigns.

The returns are in.

As detailed in The Star on Wednesday, Earth Day, Indiana and Indianapolis rank at or near the bottom in category after category of air, water and soil quality; wetlands and forest preservation; mass transit; and clean technology development.

Indiana was the nation’s worst when it came to toxic discharges to bodies of water in 2007, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The state ranked 49th in a “Greenest States” survey in 2007 by Forbes.com.

Indianapolis was 99th out of 100 metropolitan areas in carbon emissions from transportation and energy in 2008, according to the Brookings Institution. No coincidence, when the nation’s 13th-largest city has the 98th largest bus system.

The dishonor roll goes on and on. What is damning, and instructive, about the litany of shameful rankings is that they come from a variety of sources, governmental and private. This undercuts the Daniels administration’s argument that the data are not to be trusted. It also makes the point — see Forbes.com — that there is no true disconnect between ecology and economy. As other states’ experience shows, green is gold.

Unfortunately, the administration’s laudable emphasis on business promotion and smaller government during hard times has been accompanied by disturbing moves, including leniency toward industrial discharges into Lake Michigan, suspension of funding for local recycling and air pollution programs, increased timber sales from state-owned forests, encouragement of confined livestock production over community protests, and the closing of the enforcement office of the Department of Environmental Management.

State legislators, as well as environmental activists, have taken notice. So has the EPA, which recently called the state onto the carpet. Daniels and IDEM chief Thomas Easterly insist we are getting better and are not being fairly judged. Meanwhile, the states that outdo us by the green statistics also tend to be greener in terms of prosperity.

There are hopeful signs. The Ballard administration’s green initiatives and efforts in the current Indiana General Assembly to foster mass transit and renewable energy show that policymakers may be getting it at long last. Unless business leaders and the electorate absorb the message and turn up the heat, however, the political profile of environmental stewardship will not rise to its proper place. Neither will Indiana’s dismal ranking.