"Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens residents have been fighting for years to get hazardous creosote chemicals cleaned up from the ground and groundwater around their homes. But creosote might not have been the only harmful substance that workers used at the rail yard in the neighborhood, and it might not have been the most dangerous.
Workers mixed hazardous waste with the creosote as part of the process for treating wood at the Union Pacific property, according to a newly obtained report shared with the Houston Chronicle. This waste came from four different locations — three of which became Superfund sites, meaning federal officials considered them among the country’s worst cases of contamination.
Railroad officials referred to this dangerous mix of industrial waste as “creosote extender,” according to the report. Creosote, which is made up of different components, can be combined with oil to treat wood. In Fifth Ward, it was added in a 3:7 ratio, a hazardous combination that could have contained dozens of toxic compounds — or more.
A new report shows that workers used material from what are now three Superfund sites at the rail yard in Fifth Ward."
Emily Foxhall reports for the Houston Chronicle August 15, 2022.
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