EPA, Union Pacific testing nearly completed in Greater Fifth Ward over rail yard contamination

The Environmental Protection Agency found "no concerns for human health" in the results of its background soil study measuring pollutants in locations of Greater Fifth Ward outside of the Union Pacific Railroad immediate area.

Of the 20 locations sampled by the EPA and Union Pacific, six have one or more contaminants that are higher than EPA screening standards. These locations include parks, bus stops, roadway medians, vacant public spaces, and other general-use properties. However, authorities say that visiting the park, crossing the street, or engaging in other kinds of everyday use would pose no risk to people's health.

The EPA presented these most recent findings at a public meeting in Greater Fifth Ward on Thursday evening. Union Pacific was also present but did not address residents.

"There is soil and groundwater contamination related to the former (wood treatment) operation and that's what the EPA is doing here today," said EPA project manager Casey Luckett Snyder to a crowd of residents from all over Houston, including Kashmere Gardens and Denver Harbor. "The EPA does background studies whenever we're doing an investigation and we're trying to understand what kind of contaminants are related to a potential source."

Contaminants found in slightly elevated concentrations were: benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene. All three are known carcinogens created when organic matter, such as plants, animals or carbon fuels, is burned incompletely.

The background soil study is vital for the EPA to distinguish between railyard contaminants and other natural or industrial contaminants. Like a control in scientific research, this helps the agency determine how the soil differs near the old railyard.

Since November last year, Union Pacific, monitored by the EPA, has been testing the soil, groundwater and underground vapor in the community surrounding the old Union Pacific railyard. Most sampling has been completed with results showing elevated concentrations of contamination in some testing locations.

Union Pacific and the EPA are still finishing up soil sampling of individual residential properties.

"We recognize how important this testing is to the Fifth Ward, and we are focused on making the process and findings accessible and clear as we work with the EPA to share the results," said Toni Harrison, spokesperson and community liaison for Union Pacific, in a statement. "The results will be key to the upcoming health risk assessment and guide next steps in the neighborhood."

From 1911 to 1984, Southern Pacific Railroad used the hazardous substance creosote for wood preservation at a rail yard site in Greater Fifth Ward. The company merged with Union Pacific in 1997.

Creosote, which is used to coat railroad ties, is derived from coal and wood. It has been shown to cause cancer in the respiratory tract, skin, lungs, pancreas, kidney, central nervous system and other parts of the body. Experts say that these chemicals leached underground over time and spread out into the Greater Fifth Ward community, resulting in a contaminated groundwater plume under residential homes just north of the property.

In 2019, the state health department designated the Greater Fifth Ward, Kashmere Gardens and Denver Harbor a cancer cluster for having a higher-than-average level of cancer cases.

Completed vapor and groundwater testing has found higher levels of creosote-related chemicals such as Benzene, Ethylbenzene and Naphthalene. In one case, Naphthalene was detected in water as much as 283 times the EPA screening level. These chemicals are known to cause cancer in humans.

Of the 342 residential properties, 187 property owners agreed to their private yards sampled by Union Pacific and the EPA. Twenty of these tests are still pending results. This testing will continue until Friday, November 15, so Luckett Snyder urged residents who have not given permission yet to sign an agreement to let the EPA and Union Pacific on their property.

The final results will be sent to each resident as early as the end of January 2025.

Once all testing is completed, Union Pacific and the EPA will create an overall health assessment report to determine whether cleanup is necessary.

During the public meeting, numerous residents expressed frustrations over the EPA and Union Pacific investigation, criticizing how limited the scope was both in location and time.

Residents living outside the testing area were concerned about their own properties. Norma Mottu, a resident from Denver Harbor, emphasized that residents living in her community were only minutes from Greater Fifth Ward and the creosote operation, yet the EPA is not testing in her neighborhood.

"Soil ps move around with time and flooding moves the soil, what is it going to take to get the EPA to do something about our community, too?" said Mottu, 46. "We're forgotten communities, but we've been dying of cancer here. So many of us have died of cancer."

EPA testing is only near the old wood preservation site. If any areas are found to have higher levels of contamination, the EPA will decide whether to expand its testing further.

Denver Harbor is one of the neighborhoods in the state-designated cancer cluster.

Other residents at the meeting, such as Greater Fifth Ward community advocate Sandra Edwards, underscored how little the EPA and Union Pacific were considering the historic impact of contamination on the community.

"If they find even a drop of creosote on my property, you know at one point there was so much more," said Edwards, 58. "Operations ended in 1984, it's been forty years. If it's not in the soil, then that's because it's faded or it's in our bodies. We were all exposed years ago, but they're only testing for right now?"

Other residents stepped forward during the meeting, calling out the EPA and Union Pacific for their cancer, their partners' cancer or family cancer. Like in previous meetings, officials said they cannot go back in time and test the soil.

Kathy Blueford-Daniels, a community advocate in Greater Fifth Ward, lives right by the old creosote operation. Her husband has been sick with multiple myeloma for several years.

"We've heard this all before," Blueford-Daniels said. "I don't hear any clear objective on what they are going to do about it. What are they going to do about everyone who has died? It's exhausting."