Cancer-causing chemicals found in Houston Ship Channel sediment as expansion project continues
The Houston skyline is visible in the distance over an artificial hill — a pile of dredged material from the bottom of the Ship Channel, placed right next to a Galena Park neighborhood and across the street from a baseball field.A coalition of Houston-area environmental organizations released test results on Tuesday showing concerning levels of cancer-causing chemicals within the sediment at the bottom of the Houston Ship Channel. Residents living along the ship channel say their communities have been significantly impacted by these toxins for decades. The Healthy Port Communities Coalition found 11 chemicals — including arsenic, dioxins and benzidine — that exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's screening levels after reviewing data from both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and samples collected by the coalition. One of the samples had arsenic levels 45 times higher than what’s considered safe by the EPA. The Army Corps collected data related to operations and maintenance dredging along the ship channel and Project 11, an expansion effort that aims to widen and deepen the channel by 2027. The problem for residents lie in the dredging process, which results in contaminated sludge being lifted from the bottom of the ship channel and buried under man-made hills in nearby communities like Galena Park and Pleasantville. During a press conference on Tuesday, community members, organizers and researchers stood side-by-side and demanded officials with the Port of Houston and the Army Corps thoroughly test the area for pollutants to ensure neighboring communities aren’t harmed by the expansion project. “We see no reason that the industries that sit along the ship channel, who the dredging is for, and the agencies that conduct the projects, couldn’t afford to pay for safe disposal of the sediments in areas that don’t affect low-income communities,” said Naomi Yoder, a researcher at the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University. In a statement to Houston Public Media, the Port of Houston said they cared “deeply about the health and safety” of neighboring communities and heard their concerns. “We have seen no evidence of contamination or discharges at any of the dredged material placement areas that would pose a hazard to human health,” the statement read. Earlier this year, Amnesty International, a national human rights organization, published a report that described the Houston Ship Channel as a “sacrifice zone,” detailing the impacts of decades of pollution caused by petrochemical facilities as well as a lack of oversight by state and federal environmental regulators. The report found that people living along the 52-mile ship channel — which are predominantly low-income communities with Black and Latino residents — are frequently exposed to known carcinogens and can have life expectancies up to 20 years shorter than those who live in predominantly white and affluent areas about 15 miles to the west. “These vulnerable communities have significant risks associated with poor air quality, soil contamination, water contamination and flooding,” Bridgette Murray said during Tuesday’s press conference. Murray, the executive director for Achieving Community Task Successfully in Pleasantville, said many community members have suffered from “respiratory conditions, heart and neurological ailments, as well as cancer.” Juan Flores, a Galena Park resident and community air monitoring program manager for Air Alliance Houston, is one of these community members. “Back in the 80s, I used to go play and explore, playing in these dredge sites when I was a kid and I am living proof of what these chemicals chemicals can do to you,” Flores said. “My health is suffering because of the chemicals in this area.” Flores, along with his fellow neighbors, said he’d continue to push for more testing in the area. “We are human beings, we’re all human beings, our lives mean so much more,” Flores said. “You have the resources, the money to do more.”
Environmental organizers found 11 chemicals -- including arsenic -- that exceeded federal screening levels in the sediment at the bottom of the Houston Ship Channel.
![The Houston skyline is visible in the distance over an artificial hill — a pile of dredged material from the bottom of the Ship Channel, placed right next to a Galena Park neighborhood and across the street from a baseball field.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/606103d4066949639878560d/6668bff7744e9a75af4a92e9_Screenshot-2021-02-08-142507.png)
A coalition of Houston-area environmental organizations released test results on Tuesday showing concerning levels of cancer-causing chemicals within the sediment at the bottom of the Houston Ship Channel. Residents living along the ship channel say their communities have been significantly impacted by these toxins for decades.
The Healthy Port Communities Coalition found 11 chemicals — including arsenic, dioxins and benzidine — that exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's screening levels after reviewing data from both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and samples collected by the coalition. One of the samples had arsenic levels 45 times higher than what’s considered safe by the EPA.
The Army Corps collected data related to operations and maintenance dredging along the ship channel and Project 11, an expansion effort that aims to widen and deepen the channel by 2027. The problem for residents lie in the dredging process, which results in contaminated sludge being lifted from the bottom of the ship channel and buried under man-made hills in nearby communities like Galena Park and Pleasantville.
During a press conference on Tuesday, community members, organizers and researchers stood side-by-side and demanded officials with the Port of Houston and the Army Corps thoroughly test the area for pollutants to ensure neighboring communities aren’t harmed by the expansion project.
“We see no reason that the industries that sit along the ship channel, who the dredging is for, and the agencies that conduct the projects, couldn’t afford to pay for safe disposal of the sediments in areas that don’t affect low-income communities,” said Naomi Yoder, a researcher at the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice at Texas Southern University.
In a statement to Houston Public Media, the Port of Houston said they cared “deeply about the health and safety” of neighboring communities and heard their concerns.
“We have seen no evidence of contamination or discharges at any of the dredged material placement areas that would pose a hazard to human health,” the statement read.
Earlier this year, Amnesty International, a national human rights organization, published a report that described the Houston Ship Channel as a “sacrifice zone,” detailing the impacts of decades of pollution caused by petrochemical facilities as well as a lack of oversight by state and federal environmental regulators.
The report found that people living along the 52-mile ship channel — which are predominantly low-income communities with Black and Latino residents — are frequently exposed to known carcinogens and can have life expectancies up to 20 years shorter than those who live in predominantly white and affluent areas about 15 miles to the west.
“These vulnerable communities have significant risks associated with poor air quality, soil contamination, water contamination and flooding,” Bridgette Murray said during Tuesday’s press conference.
Murray, the executive director for Achieving Community Task Successfully in Pleasantville, said many community members have suffered from “respiratory conditions, heart and neurological ailments, as well as cancer.” Juan Flores, a Galena Park resident and community air monitoring program manager for Air Alliance Houston, is one of these community members.
“Back in the 80s, I used to go play and explore, playing in these dredge sites when I was a kid and I am living proof of what these chemicals chemicals can do to you,” Flores said. “My health is suffering because of the chemicals in this area.”
Flores, along with his fellow neighbors, said he’d continue to push for more testing in the area.
“We are human beings, we’re all human beings, our lives mean so much more,” Flores said. “You have the resources, the money to do more.”