Houston to spend millions to relocate residents living near polluted Union Pacific rail yard

By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s mayor says the city plans to spend millions of dollars to relocate residents from neighborhoods located near a rail yard polluted by a cancer-linked wood preservative that has been blamed for an increase in cancer cases. At least two cancer clusters have been found in Houston’s historically Black Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods. Residents and local officials have long blamed the high number of cancer cases on contamination from a nearby Union Pacific rail yard. Mayor Sylvester Turner says the city can’t wait for final testing and will start relocating residents. But Union Pacific says more testing is still needed to determine “”the true extent and source of contamination.”