Union Pacific sued over alleged contamination of Houston neighborhood, resulting in cancer cluster and toxic groundwater plume

(Source: Press release from The Gibson Law Firm, February 3, 2020)

HOUSTON — Over 80 residents in the Houston neighborhoods of the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens in Houston have sued Union Pacific Railroad Company alleging more than $100,000,000.00 in damages for contaminating their properties and groundwater with known probable human carcinogen, creosote, and other toxic chemicals. Filed in Houston’s Harris County District Court, the lawsuit cites to a recent Texas Department of State Health Services report identifying a cancer cluster in the residential community surrounding Union Pacific’s Englewood Rail Yard. The cancers identified in the report are linked to creosote exposure. For decades, creosote waste remained unconstrained on the site, contaminating the air, soil and water. Today creosote levels continue to test above safe concentrations and a plume of creosote waste has formed beneath the homes of hundreds of area residents.

Full story: PR Newswire

Tuesday, February 4, 2020