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The city of Houston is planning to relocate residents in a historically Black area due to its location near a rail yard polluted by a cancer-linked wood preservative, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Thursday (July 13) per the Associated Press.
The relocation comes after Texas health officials first identified a cancer cluster in Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens, two of Houston's historically Black neighborhoods, in 2019.
According to health officials, higher rates of respiratory cancers and childhood cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, were found in these areas, which are both near a Union Pacific rail yard that has been said to be contaminated with creosote. For over 80 years, the cancer-linked wood preservative was used at the site. Though its usage stopped in the 1980s, city officials say the contamination has reached the groundwater in the neighborhoods.
In 2022, testing of soil samples from around the Union Pacific rail yard also determined the area was contaminated with dioxin, "a highly toxic chemical compound associated with cancer and other health risks," per AP.
Turner said the city has tried to work with Union Pacific for months to help relocate residents. The relocation process could cost up to $26 million, according to the mayor.
Union Pacific "has an open invitation to help fund this (relocation) effort and to participate in this process, if they so choose. But they not only have a legal obligation, they have a moral obligation. How many more families do you need to see suffer? How many more children must die before they have a moral obligation to step in?" Turner said at a press conference.
The railroad company said it wants to wait for additional testing to "accurately determine the true extent and source of contamination in the neighborhood."
"Relocation should be based on a human health risk assessment," Union Pacific said in a statement, noting that it has "made measurable progress with on-site clean-up since acquiring the property in a 1997 merger and are committed to finishing the job."
Additional testing of the area is expected to be conducted through September. A timetable for the relocation process is unclear.
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