EPA Updates On Toxic Union Pacific Creosote Site
UPDATE: On February 10th, Harris County officials announced that testing had uncovered dioxin-related chemicals that exceed EPA standards. The source of those chemicals is not known or whether the dioxin in the samples matches dioxin from the railyards. Additionally, the county and EPA do not seem to agree on the threat the chemicals may pose to the community. In the short term, county officials said that the area shown to be contaminated would be fenced off from the public. You can read more here.
Residents in the Greater Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens Community got the latest updates on testing to determine the spread of dioxin and other toxic chemicals from the old creosote operations at the Union Pacific Rail Yard during a community meeting on January 30. .
The testing has been completed. Union Pacific will send the individual results out on a rolling schedule and the full results will not be released to the public until property owners have all received their reports.
Under that schedule, governmental entities should have received their results by now, but sending the remaining results out will take another three months.
The EPA indicated it would not release the full results to the public until all of the property owners have been sent their specific site results.
According to the EPA, sampling has been completed, it will take time to review all of the information, including:
Onsite Soil Sampling
Warm Weather Vapor Sampling
Neighborhood Residential Sampling
Stormwater Sampling
A Union Pacific representative also stated that the company would provide the EPA with a health risk assessment. Once the EPA has compiled all of its data, it will determine whether additional investigation is necessary, if there is a risk from creosote contamination and whether the risk to health supports additional cleanup.
In fact, the EPA has already reported to the public that sampling identified five toxic chemicals in the local environment that can be byproducts of creosote:
Benzene
Ethylbenzene
Naptholene
Zylene
Trimethlybenzene
Benzene was found to be 52 times higher than the EPA’s legal limit in one location.
Another community meeting on the testing program is planned for Thursday, February 27, 2025, 6:30-7:30PM
Carl R. Walker, Jr. Multipurpose Center
4300 Noble Street B
Houston, TX 77020
One noteworthy element of the January meeting was that it included the EPA, city officials, elected representatives, and Union Pacific. While residents are still frustrated at the slow pace and have deep concerns about their health, this process is very different from some other public outreach efforts. For example, at the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund Site, International Paper and the Waste Management subsidiary, McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corporation are responsible for the large amounts of dioxin that continue to threaten local health and the environment. However, those companies have not spoken at any EPA meetings or other community meetings in over a decade and have done little to reassure the community.