HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A historic environmental study is now underway in Houston’s Fifth Ward.

The area has been designated a “cancer cluster” by state officials, and residents there have called for help.

“I’ve been fighting for 25 years. Just imagine how long my mother has been fighting. I just buried her in April. She was praying to see some kind of change. I just spoke to my uncle, 91, at a nurse’s home. He got cancer,” explained Fifth Ward resident Joe Ballard.

Relatives of Ballard and Kathy Blueford-Daniels’ sister have lived in the Fifth Ward since the 1890s.

They were here when Southern Pacific, now Union Pacific, operated a lumber mill on Liberty Road from 1911 to 1984.

Chemicals used at the facility are now known to cause cancer, although Union Pacific has denied any community exposure.

“Basically, the fox follows the henhouse,” Blueford-Daniels said. “So no, we don’t trust it.”

EPA officials are currently monitoring Union Pacific’s tests on nearby soil and water vapor.

Initial tests show some elevated levels of cancer-causing chemicals, but the results appear mixed.

Previous tests from the city’s health department have shown hazards.

EPA officials have issued cards warning residents of the toxic chemicals, but insist the area appears to be safe.

“Help us. Do something. We’re going in circles around here, so this card means nothing to me,” resident Sandra Edwards said as she tossed the cards in the air.

“If it happened in any other neighborhood than this, you’d have all the scientists and chemists in the world here doing tests on the people who live here, but since it’s a challenged area, that’s what we get, what they give us ,” said resident Walter Mallett. “This is not welfare. We are Americans. We have pride and respect. We deserve more.”

Houston city officials have introduced a program to buy homes from those who live in the area, but that hasn’t started yet as they await the final results of those tests.

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