By David Taylor / Managing Editor
Gene Hennigan, a lifelong resident of Lynchburg since 1977, stood before a gaggle of cameras and reporters on Monday afternoon at the San Jacinto Community Center in Highlands, Texas and begged the Environmental Protection Agency for help in cleaning up the San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund site just a couple miles from his front door.
“While the responsible parties, EPA and many lawyers talk (for the last two decades), people in our community are dying,” a tearful Hennigan said.
He knows.
His son Jeff, who played, swam, and fished in those very same waters as a kid, has died from two kinds of lung cancer. His youngest son’s father-in-law who lived next door to him died of liver cancer. His daughter-in-law’s family in the neighborhood have had cancer.
“I’ve had several skin cancer operations. My wife has had breast cancer and surgery,” he told reporters.
Hennigan urged newly appointed EPA administrator Lee Zeldin to follow through on his promise when he took office.
“You said, ‘The first pillar of your new plan is pushing for clean air, land, and water for every American. Well, Lee, here is your chance to show people you mean it. You can stay at my house and drink my water,” he offered.
The press conference in Highlands comes on the heels of a newly released report that confirms a cancer cluster finding in Harris County that encompasses 250 square miles of the San Jacinto River flood plain.
The study, requested by the Texas Health and Environment Alliance and area residents in February 2024 included over 65 census tracts and looked at 22 types of cancer in people of all ages, and showed increased rates of seven childhood cancers of the 29 cancer types examined. They also found unusual patterns of leukemia, lymphoma, cervix, lung and bronchus cancers.
“I want to thank the Texas Department of State Health Services for publishing the study,” said Jackie Medcalf, founder of THEA and area resident.
“While the findings are not a surprise to those of us living in the shadow of contamination, they are a sad vindication for what far too many of us have experienced,” Medcalf said.
One of the shocking statistics is the size of the cancer cluster.
“The study area stretches from Atascocita to La Porte and from North Shore to Mont Belvieu. This is an enormous swath of land comparable to the island nation of Singapore. The findings affect a vast number of people,” she said.
A small group of members in the community have been fighting to get changes, but almost to no avail.
“Many of us who have spent over a decade fighting for our community may never live to see the benefits of our work, but we keep pushing forward because at the end of the day, we can’t go back. We can continue to fight for a cleaner environment for the future generations, because they will call this place home.”
Harris County Pct. 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey didn’t mince words.
“I’ve been doing engineering for over 40 years. We’ve known about the San Jacinto River Waste Pits site. It’s historic in terms of what people know,” he said. “And yet we sit here and let people come up with plans to remediate. I can tell you, Mr. Hennigan, those attorneys got paid to do exactly what those attorneys did: delay, delay, delay. When you delay, the superfund site gets washed into probably the most important environmental fishing area that you could ever have—the bay of Galveston and that’s a huge deal,” he said.
While some danced around naming the responsible parties, Ramsey did not.
“I’ll tell you their name, Waste Management International Paper. It’s not like they don’t have assets. If Waste Management has enough money to go sponsor a golf tournament, then I think they would have enough money to clean up our waste pits on the east side. It’s time that they do it. They have delayed it way too long,” the commissioner told reporters.
Another concern is protection for workers and the disturbance of the superfund site while the construction for a bigger and better bridge will be built by TxDOT in the next two years.
“Every time there’s a hurricane, there’s problems with the barges on the north side. We need to get rid of them,” he said.
Ramsey detailed how the water from the pits themselves present a real danger to those downstream.
“There’s 100 reasons why we need to do this. Not an ‘Okay, when we get around to it,’ but we need it done urgently,” he said.
He was insistent that the new bridge not be built until the removal of the pits.
“That’s a pressure point and also the barge issue,” he said. “If the EPA has to take over the project (from the responsible parties), then they have to take it over.”
Medcalf, who has also battled cancer, said she would work to see this through.
“It’s time for our state and our federal government to stop acting, or to start acting. We will meet in the coming days with Texas Department of State Health Services and discuss with them some of the items omitted from this study and find out what their plan of action is based on the findings that we do have. For the EPA, we are calling on you to uphold the promise you made to our community after Hurricane Harvey and get the pit out of our river. We simply can’t afford to wait any longer,” she said.
The report by the TDSHS can be found here: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/sites/default/files/CHI-ESTB/DSHS%20East%20Harris%20County%20Cancer%20Assessment%20-%20Full%20Report.pdf
“I look forward to getting this cleaned up. We’re not going to be quiet. We’ve been quiet far too long and people are dying because of our silence. If we start now, maybe we can protect our grandchildren and our great grandchildren and others as this area continues to develop,” Commissioner Ramsey said.
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