The congressman asks that the community be allowed to review an assessment of contamination in Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens before the EPA completes the process.
Congressman Christian Menefee on November 9, 2026 asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish the draft of an assessment of potential health risks associated with contamination at a former rail facility in Houston.
Residents of Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens have been waiting for years to understand what the environmental test results near their homes mean. Although the EPA has disclosed some data on the contamination, the risk assessment remains unavailable for public review, according to Menefee’s office.
Menefee asks for 60 days to review the results
The congressman requested that the EPA publish the draft assessment and open a 60-day period to receive community comments before finalizing the report.
He also asked for a written response by December 1, 2026. That date corresponds to the deadline requested by Menefee and does not mean the EPA has committed to publishing the document on that day.
During a press conference held on November 9, Menefee was joined by members of the affected communities, including Joetta Stevenson, president of the EPA’s community advisory group for the site.
Stevenson questioned the delay and urged that residents be able to learn about and comment on the results. The expectation was also reported by ABC13, which covered the press conference.
Menefee had already sent a request for information to the EPA on July 2. According to his office, the agency responded on September 23 but did not provide a date to disclose the assessment or grant the requested briefing.
Union Pacific submitted a revised version in April 2026
Menefee noted that the EPA received an initial version of the assessment on October 9, 2025, and at the time of his press conference, 396 days had elapsed without the document being available to the community.
Union Pacific, the owner of the site under investigation, stated that it delivered an assessment for EPA review in October 2025 and submitted a corrected version in April 2026, at the agency’s request.
The company also said it has cooperated with federal authorities and complied with the timelines set for the investigation.
Therefore, the 396 days mentioned by Menefee are counted from the initial delivery. They do not mean that the document remained unchanged during the entire period.
The EPA investigates contamination at a former rail facility
The investigation focuses on the site where Houston Wood Preserving Works operated, a facility that used creosote to treat wood. That activity ended in 1984. Union Pacific acquired the site in 1997, when it merged with Southern Pacific Railroad.
The EPA has documented contamination both inside and outside the former complex, including substances associated with wood treatment, such as creosote and dioxins.
Groundwater contaminants were also found. The agency notes that those waters are not used as a drinking water source.
In February 2023, the EPA reached an agreement with Union Pacific to investigate the land and its surroundings under federal supervision. The work includes soil testing, studies on possible vapor intrusion from the subsurface into homes, and a review of the drainage system.
The pending assessment should help determine what risks the detected conditions may pose and whether additional protective or cleanup measures are warranted.
Texas found more childhood leukemia cases than expected
Concerns about contamination are also connected to cancer diagnoses recorded for years in nearby communities.
A study from the Texas Department of State Health Services, published in January 2021, analyzed cases of certain cancers recorded between 2000 and 2016 in 21 census tracts in northeast Houston.
Across that area, there were 28 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children under 20, compared with 16.2 expected according to Texas reference rates. The difference was statistically significant.
However, those figures refer to the entire area studied, not exclusively Fifth Ward. Investigators did not determine what caused the cases nor did they establish a causal link to contamination at the former rail complex.
The assessment now sought by Menefee has a different objective: to examine potential risks of environmental exposure. Its results could guide decisions on protective or cleanup actions, but they will not on their own establish the cause of each diagnosis.
Related: Free cancer testing in Fifth Ward: response to pollution in Houston.
