EPA to help with Fifth Ward cleanup with focus on Union Pacific site: 'The whole street has died'

An inactive Union Pacific railroad facility located in Houston’s Fifth Ward identified as the cause of a “cancer cluster” two years ago is on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) radar for quicker clean up, KHOU reported.

In 2019, state officials identified cancer clusters among residents who have lived or currently live near the facility. The homes in question are in the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens. 

“It’s basically the whole street has died,” resident Leisa Glenn said during a roundtable at the Fifth Ward Missionary Baptist Church.

The spike in disease cases was tied to a tar-like substance called creosote that was used at the facility. The study, according to KHOU, said that children living near the facility had five times the rate of leukemia diagnoses. Residents reported being diagnosed with lung and throat cancer at high rates in the area, as well.

Sandra Ward lives near the site and said that during the summer people can sit in their yards and watch vapors rise.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan recently toured the neighborhoods that are directly effected in what was the end of his “Journey to Justice” tour, KHOU reported. The residents brought up many issues, including lead poisoning, railroads, vehicle emissions and home values declining. The number one issue that came was the Union Pacific site. Regan said the clean-up project will likely get federal assistance linked to the Biden administration's $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

Houston Daily reported that State Sen. Borris Miles (D-Houston) was upset with the railroad facility, saying this is potentially a racial issue and not just limited to the Fifth Ward.

“It just doesn’t make doggone sense that this is happening all over the county in communities of color. It’s not just Houston’s Fifth Ward,” Miles tweeted.

Regan said that it is important that the EPA acknowledge that there have been “disproportionately impacted communities” for decades.

“The goal is definitely not a photo-op for EPA, but it is an opportunity to elevate environmental justice on the national stage,” Regan said at the roundtable.

Union Pacific said in a statement to KHOU that the company was pleased Regan came to the Fifth Ward to speak the community and visit the site, which the company said they assumed responsibility for in 1997 —13 years after wood treatment activities stopped.

KHOU reported that Union Pacific over the summer proposed a plan during a public meeting to install a wall underground to contain the creosote, as well as recovery wells off-site to pump potentially contaminated groundwater. 

This plan was opposed by the city, as municipal officials deemed it to be “incomplete and inadequate.”

Union Pacific officials have said they do not know how much creosote is in the subsurface.