Residents in Houston’s Fifth Ward accuse the EPA of withholding health information

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Residents in Houston’s Fifth Ward are accusing the federal government of withholding information about their health.

"I wish I could start out by saying, 'Good Morning,' but as you can see, community members are quite literally learning about more people passing right now as we’re standing up here for this press conference," U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee said.

For the past three years, ABC13 has been reporting on an agreement between Union Pacific and the EPA to test the air, soil, and water in the Greater Fifth Ward, which the state designated as a cancer cluster in 2019.

Union Pacific officials say they submitted a report to the EPA last October, then sent in more information this April.

Rep. Menefee addressed the media and Fifth Ward residents Monday with claims a preliminary draft of those results is available but hasn’t been publicly released.

"I want you to picture your family living here in Fifth Ward. A mother who wants to know if her backyard is safe for her kids," he said.

"We’ve been doing everything we can to make sure everything moves forward," said Joetta Stevenson, the EPA Community Advisory Group chair, "and they’ve been sitting on that information."

Some of those most impacted are the ones who weren't at the press conference.

ABC13 reached Annetta Dwellingham Humphrey by phone. Her daughter, Aaniyah, is immunocompromised from chemotherapy to treat Hodgkin Lymphoma. She was born and raised in Fifth Ward and, though they don't know for sure, her family worries her cancer could be related to contamination.

"It’s overwhelming, it’s heartbreaking. I can’t even explain," Humphrey said.

These residents live near a 125-acre tract of land previously owned and operated by Southern Pacific Railroad, a company that has since merged with Union Pacific.

According to the EPA, workers at the site used Creosote, a chemical used to treat wood, that is now known to increase cancer risks.

Over the years, EPA officials say chemicals from the site contaminated the groundwater. The new report the EPA has promised to release is supposed to show current conditions and determine what, if anything, can be done to improve them.

"The people who are dying deserve it. The people with cancer deserve it," Stevenson said. "We need that report."

ABC13 reached out to the EPA for a timeline on contamination results but has not received a response.