User:Conorhunt99

Initial Reports of Pollution
The identification of cancer clusters in the Fifth Ward was publicly announced in 2019. By this time, however, creosote and creosote extenders had already been present in the Fifth Ward as a result of the chemical dumping from years prior. The railroad yard's industrial waste came from the Brio Refining Superfund site, which was allegedly responsible for the reprocessing of chemicals. In 1991, the Houston Chronicle reported that 8 of 19 babies born within blocks of the dumping site were born with birth defects. Furthermore, 667 homes and an elementary school were shut down in Southbend, the adjacent neighborhood, as a result of growing health concerns.

The reprocessing of chemicals at the Brio Refining Superfund site was, according to chemical engineer Jim Tarr, “absolutely without a doubt dangerous.” In 2002, he wrote a report to provide information for a law firm representing workers who were allegedly harmed on the site. In his report, he claimed that Union Pacific mixed creosote with hazardous industrial waste to increase its available volume, using the waste as an “extender,” and that the toxicity associated with the creosote extender is more concerning than creosote itself.