City To Start Moving Residents From Contaminated Homes Near Railyard

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has announced the city plans to relocate Greater Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens residents living amongst toxic chemicals from the Union Pacific railyard. Residents have been alarmed about the threat of contamination from an old, now closed creosote operation at the railyard. THEA worked with them to document illnesses, resulting in the state determining the area to be a cancer cluster.  Following that, city testing found dioxin in the neighborhood. 

On July 13th, the mayor announced the city will take the steps to move residents from the area. Officials say the project involves 110 lots and could cost $24 million. Here’s a news story with more details. 

The announcement was somewhat unexpected because the EPA and the railroad recently launched a testing program to determine the scope of the chemical threat. That is expected to take months, meaning it is unlikely that the federal government or the railroad will have sufficient evidence to warrant relocations any time soon.  However, the mayor says the testing will take too long and people need to be moved “out of harm’s way.” 

In addition to helping residents gather the data to document cancers in the neighborhood, THEA held a webinar in 2021 with nationally recognized expert Lois Gibbs to explain how buyouts might be an option for areas where people are exposed to toxic waste contamination.  Mrs. Gibbs was primarily responsible for pushing the government to relocate over 800 families from the Love Canal toxic waste site and has been called the “Mother of the Superfund.”