Words Matter In Effort To Protect Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens Residents

If you go to the website, HoustonWoodPresevingWorks.com, you see a lot of information that looks like this:

The site, set up by Union Pacific’s public affairs department, uses the word “collaboration” a lot. If you just read that, you might think the company was in a cooperative alliance with the EPA, the state, Houston and Harris County. 
But if you look at the EPA’s site, you see words like:

Or on the Harris County Health Department Website:

What does it all mean?

In the world of toxic waste cleanup, it is typical for the companies that are responsible for the contamination to act like they and the government regulators are all one happy family, just trying to keep the public safe.

In fact, the EPA order for Union Pacific to test the area around the now-closed creosote operations at its Englewood railyard didn’t just happen because the company and the government agencies decided to partner up. It followed neighborhood complaints, a state determination that the area was a cancer cluster and the city and county’s threat to sue.  That resulted in the EPA issuing an Administrative Order on Consent (AOCs), which is a legally binding order for the company to do what the EPA says. If it doesn’t, the courts can force it to comply. 

Given the thousands of miles of tracks and untold number of properties the railroad has built or acquired over the years, the company knows it faces a lot of exposure to environmental problems. Like the Houston yard, many of those problems started years before Union Pacific was ever involved.  In fact, here is what the railroad told stock investors in its last annual report:

We have identified 333 sites where we are or may be liable for remediation costs associated with alleged contamination or for violations of environmental requirements. This includes 32 sites that are the subject of actions taken by the U.S. government, including 20 that are currently on the Superfund National Priorities List.

The company reported that it had paid out $107 million in payments for environmental liabilities last year. 

With all that exposure, Union Pacific presents a carefully crafted message to the public and investors, which is why it says it is “collaborating” on neighborhood testing when in fact, it really doesn’t have much choice.