User:Conorhunt99/sandbox

Initial Reports of Pollution Occurring
Before the identification of cancer clusters was publicly announced in the Fifth Ward in 2019, there were multiple reports regarding the hazardous implications behind creosote, the toxic chemical found in Union Pacific's railroad yard. Creosote was introduced to the railroad yard in 1895 under the legal property owner at the time, Southern Pacific (Peters, 2021). The chemical was paired with creosote extenders, which consisted of polychlorinated biphenyl and vinyl chloride, as part of their wood preserving method. Up until 1984, Southern Pacific dumped creosote and creosote extenders into nearby wetland pits of the Fifth Ward (Foxhall, 2022). In 1988, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Risk Information System released a chemical assessment report on creosote, classifying it is a carcinogen (EPA). 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 (Foxhall, 2022). In 1991, a story in the Houston Chronicle reported that 8 of 19 babies born within blocks of the dumping site were born with birth defects (Foxhall, 2022). The railroad yard's industrial waste came from what are now three Superfund sites in Houston (Foxhall, 2022). Brio Refining is perhaps the most notorious, as workers were responsible for reprocessing chemicals (Foxhall, 2022). Jim Tarr, a chemical engineer, claimed this was “absolutely without a doubt dangerous” (Foxhall, 2022). The 58-acre Brio site was declared a federal Superfund site after a $207 million court settlement for a 1992 toxic waste case (Foxhall, 2022). In 2002, Tarr also wrote a report to provide information for a law firm representing workers who were alleged harmed on the site. In the report, he claimed that the extreme toxicity associated with creosote extender is more concerning than creosote itself (Foxhall, 2022).