On the recordJanuary 9, 2020
To the gentleman from New York, I would like to enter into a colloquy regarding creosote contamination in the 18th Congressional District. I certainly rise to support enthusiastically H.R. 535. For decades the residents of the Fifth Ward and surrounding areas, residential areas in Houston, which is located on the northern side of my district, have long suspected that creosote was making them sick. They were exposed to creosote through soil and water contamination through a railroad yard. Last April, during a community meeting I hosted for residents on the topic of creosote contamination, I requested a cancer study from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality after person after person spoke about cancer and their relative dying. The study found that three adult respiratory-system-related cancers occurred in that Fifth Ward and surrounding areas, including Kashmere Gardens. The cancers included, lung and bronchus, esophagus, and larynx. Toxic substances, such as creosote, should not be in common use where human activity is present, and it should not take decades for hazardous environmental concerns expressed by citizens to get addressed.
