Daniel Boyd, Harris Fellow, Office of Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee
August 3, 2022

On a normal day at work, LaTonya Payne received a phone call, “we need him right now, he has leukemia,” doctors informed Payne. Her son was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2013, and passed away in July 2021. Ms. Payne is a resident of Houston’s Fifth Ward, and her son experienced a heightened risk of Leukemia in the area. This risk was no coincidence, however. While no confirmed link has been made, Payne’s experience is one of many in a growing problem with environmental injustices generating health issues for Harris County residents who mostly live in lower income and minority communities.

North of the Fifth Ward along Loop 610 lies an area of modest single-family homes, many on sizable lots and wooded areas. This neighborhood is Kashmere Gardens in Houston's Fifth Ward; a ward that almost 20,000 Harris County residents call home. 

Source: Fifth Ward Houston

After a review from the Texas Department of State Health, the historically Black neighborhood in North Houston was determined to be a “cancer cluster.” Meaning that the rate of cancer in the area was exceedingly higher than average. The cancer cluster in the Fifth Ward/ Kashmere Gardens area is believed to be the result of Union Pacific’s railyard being contaminated with Creosote, a more-than-likely carcinogen among humans. The Union Pacific Railroad, formally known as the Union Pacific Railroad Company, is a cargo-hauling railroad that operates over 8,000 locomotives over 32,200 miles routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans.

Creosote was utilized up until 1980 by several local industrial facilities to treat wood. Union Pacific is one of several facilities that utilized Creosote to treat wood in this community. Exposure to creosote can occur through contact with contaminated water or through inhalation of vapors; if exposure to creosote occurs over a long enough period of time, then certain types of cancers, as well as chronic conditions including stomach pains, burning of the mouth and tongue, and liver issues can materialize. Residents in the area have been exposed to these chemicals since the 1960’s.

In Houston's Fifth Ward/ Kashmere Gardens, the population has a makeup of about 67% Black, 30% Hispanic, 1% White, and 1% Other. The median household income is $23,102, and 7% of residents have attained a Bachelor's degree or higher. On average, the number of respiratory cancers is 36% higher than expected, esophagus cancers are almost 63% higher than expected, and Larynx cancers are 90% higher than expected. In addition to a state report confirming an unusually high rate of cancer in adults, children in the Fifth Ward/ Kashmere Gardens area are five times more likely to contract Leukemia than the state average.

Source: Houston Chronicle

Union Pacific has insisted that its operations with the railroad in the Fifth Ward & Kashmere Gardens area do not correlate with higher-than-normal cancer rates among adults and children in the Fifth Ward; residents however, are not convinced, and they are pleading for accountability.

“Hear my plea,” said resident Sandra Edwards, “That’s all I’m asking. Hear our plea out here. We’re dying. They are dying. The kids are not even having a chance at life because of this and that’s not fair to us.” Everyday, residents like Sandra have to plead for their lives and their children's lives simply because polluters have refused to do right by their neighbors. This issue does not only hold weight in the Fifth Ward, across communities like Galena Park and Jacinto City, residents are adversely affected by the operations of Petrochemical Industry Plants. The petrochemical industry in Southeastern Texas has a reputation for its lax zoning laws, this means that deadly cancer-causing chemicals can loom over communities. There have been about 472 chemical releases and counting, about 16 every month, in Harris County since 2020, according to an inspection of TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) records by Public Health Watch. Lower income communities and people that are exposed to pollutants that can cause cancer are disproportionately affected. Studies from the Episcopal Health Foundation show that there is a 21-year gap in life expectancy in affluent neighborhoods like River Oaks to communities like Galena Park.

Despite numerous attempts to act against big polluters, a lot of these efforts have been unsuccessful. For example, H.B. 1794 set a $2.15M limit on the amount a county could receive from pollution lawsuits- a sum far too small to cover the costly legal battle that would certainly last years. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee has made environmental justice a key issue since taking office in 2021. The Fifth Ward is where his roots are, which is why the Harris County Attorney’s Office strives to hold companies who do not represent the community accountable for levels of air pollution.

After a chemical spill in a LyondellBasell plant in La Porte that left two contractors dead and dozens hospitalized, the county attorney, with the help of colleague and top environmental lawyer Sarah Utley laid out plans to sue LyondellBasell, one of the most harmful polluters in Harris County. The Harris County Attorney's Office was ready to bring legal proceedings against LyondellBasell for 96 pollution infringements. Each violation carries a punishment up to $25,000. However, these plans were put to a halt as the Attorney General's Office notified Menefee that the state would be taking the case. Later on, HCAO planned on charging LyondellBasell with 114 violations of pollution laws, however these attempts were once again put to an end when the Attorney General's Office exercised its control over the case.

On July 5th, 2022, The Harris County Attorney's Office, joined by the City of Houston, submitted a notice that it intended to Sue Union Pacific Company for federal environmental violations and for its role in the Fifth Ward/Kashmere Gardens area being a cancer cluster. This is only one of an array of dilemmas facing residents. Attorney Menefee describes that “Residents of the Fifth Ward, a historically Black and underserved community, have dealt with negative health effects from hazardous waste and chemicals for decades…Union Pacific should be held accountable for the harm this facility has caused to its neighbors.”

Along with the intent to sue, The Harris County Attorney’s Office and City of Houston are seeking to do right in the community by finding solutions for those who have been living in distress for decades. The City and Attorney’s office are also looking to make the area a safe place for residents to live. “I'm looking for a plan that ensures that the families are either financially made whole, or that their living circumstances are addressed, as a result of the contamination that has occurred in the past," Menefee explained. Starting off with providing a clean up plan for the neighborhoods and communities who have been living within carcinogenic chemicals for decades. If Union Pacific is unable to provide a sustainable clean up plan for residents, Menefee says they should seek out a way in which residents have their relocation fees paid for.

Everyone in Harris County deserves to have the comfort of mind that they will not be informed of a cancer diagnosis, on the basis of something that could have been fixed decades ago. Nobody in Harris county deserves to have a life of detriment from their neighborhoods being contaminated with carcinogens. Unfortunately, this bare minimum is not reality for many across Harris County, which is why it’s time for polluters to be held accountable for not doing right by fellow Harris County residents.

The content and opinions expressed on this webpage are solely the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of nor are they endorsed by the University of Houston or the Hobby School of Public Affairs.

Sources:

1. Houston Health Department, Impact Health Survey of 30 Fifth Ward households finds 43 percent (13 households) self-reported cancer diagnosis. (n.d.). Retrieved July 8, 2022
2. Houston residents Sue City, railroad, for poisoning and contamination caused by creosote wood preservative. Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog. (2021, December 2). Retrieved July 8, 2022
3. Leffler, D., & Strott, S. (n.d.). A Texas County Wants to Punish Polluters. The State Won’t Let It. Google search. Retrieved July 9, 2022 
4. Media, H. P. (2022, July 7). Mayor, Harris Co. attorney Take Action Against Union Pacific. DefenderNetwork.com. Retrieved July 8, 2022
5. Panjwani, H. (2022, July 7). Houston, county attorney plan to sue union pacific for inadequate Fifth Ward cleanup plan. Houston Public Media. Retrieved July 8, 2022
6. Panjwani, H. (2022, July 7). Houston, county attorney plan to sue union pacific for inadequate Fifth Ward cleanup plan. Houston Public Media. Retrieved July 8, 2022
7. Resident, F. (2022, March 31). Living in greater fifth ward. Niche. Retrieved July 8, 2022
8. Turner, S. (2022, July 5). City of Houston, Harris County to sue union pacific over toxic contamination in Fifth Ward. khou.com. Retrieved July 8, 2022
9. Wallace, R. (2022, February 1). Residents happy to see EPA tackle Fifth Ward Cancer Cluster after decades of death, pollution. FOX 26 Houston. Retrieved July 8, 2022
10. Walton, A. X. (2022, May 4). Community continues fight to clean up toxic railroad site being blamed for 'cancer clusters'. khou.com. Retrieved July 8, 2022