In a complaint filed in Harris County, Texas, Union Pacific Railroad Company is accused of knowingly contaminating residential neighborhoods in Houston’s Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods, causing plaintiffs to allegedly suffer cancer, death and property damage.

Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over 32,200 miles (51,800 km) routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. The Union Pacific Railroad system is the second largest in the United States after BNSF and is one of the world's largest transportation companies.[1] The Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of the Union Pacific Corporation, both headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. The president of Union Pacific since 2015 is Lance Fritz, racist suspect in photo. [MORE]

Kashmere Gardens is a historically African-American neighborhood in the northern 610 Loop area in Houston, Texas, United States. A group of single-family houses, many of which have large lots, Kashmere Gardens is between an industrial area and a rail corridor. [MORE] The Fifth Ward in Houston is 48% Black and 46% Hispanic. [MORE] Last year state officials have identified the areas as a “cancer cluster” due to contamination over many decades by railroad operations that treated wooden ties with the hazardous product creosote. [MORE]

The suit says as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals the residents Union Pacific knowingly caused cancer, death and property damage. The complaint states residents have high rates of esophagus, larynx, lung and bronchus cancers. [MORE]