UP Advances Environmental Assessment, Testing at HWPW

Image that includes the site of former Houston Wood Preserving Works, Courtesy of UP, via Twitter

More environmental assessment and testing will take place at the former Houston Wood Preserving Works (HWPW), which closed in 1984, according to Union Pacific (UP). The Class I railroad inherited the Houston, Tex., site in 1997 after its merger with Southern Pacific Transportation Company (Southern Pacific Railroad).

UP on Feb. 27 reported signing an agreement—in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and in collaboration with community partners—to move forward. The EPA-approved statement of work, UP said, will enable it to begin:

• Soil gas testing and assessment of potential vapor intrusion pathways.
• Soil sampling and testing for dioxins and furans, as a follow-up to recent testing in the nearby neighborhood.
• Additional storm sewer sampling and testing to evaluate potential impacts.
• Work plan development to “guide the sampling and testing activities and reduce the potential impacts from this work.”
• “Extensive” community outreach and engagement.

According to UP, the EPA in January granted a request from the railroad and its community partners to “use the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) to enable quicker Union Pacific action. EPA’s use of CERCLA authorizes and allows faster sampling and testing compared to alternative regulatory procedures.”

“Union Pacific takes its environmental obligations seriously and is committed to working with the EPA and community on the site assessment process, including the railroad providing all necessary funding,” UP Assistant Vice President-Public Affairs Clint Schelbitzki said. “The EPA’s order allows us to move as quickly as possible toward solutions and proactively communicate with residents, so they are fully informed as we move forward.”

BACKGROUND

Southern Pacific from 1911 to 1984 conducted wood treating operations at HWPW, and began cleanup efforts under the EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) cleanup program, and work was supervised by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Following the merger with UP, clean-up continued under the authority of a federal RCRA permit, which dictates how investigations and clean-up activities are conducted at the site.

According to UP, since 1997 it has installed more than 120 wells at the site and in the neighboring Fifth Ward of Houston; capped creosote-impacted soil on-site; created an asphalt/concrete barrier to control exposure from underground creosote; excavated soil and built a concrete sidewalk to address the contaminated area between the site boundary and Liberty Road; and monitored groundwater and removed creosote from the subsurface.

In 2019, the Texas State Department of Health Service conducted a study and identified a cancer cluster in a census tract covering more than 8,000 acres, which includes the Fifth Ward neighborhood, that included the site, according to UP. The former HWPW site, it noted, represents 33 acres, or less than 0.4%, of the total 8,000-area region included in the study.