EPA meets with residents in Houston’s Fifth Ward cancer cluster

HOUSTON – The Environmental Protection Agency provided an update Tuesday night to people living in Houston’s Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens on the investigation into a cancer cluster.

KPRC 2 Investigates has been looking into the problems facing the community for years.

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The EPA has been sampling the soil in the neighborhoods and says certain chemicals have been found in the soil, but that their work is not complete.

They say they’re taking proper steps moving forward based on their findings.

“It’s important to recognize, you know, it is a scientific study. And as data comes in, it informs our next steps. So, you know, we have to take that information. We need to react to it,” said John Meyer from Region 6 of the Environmental Protection Agency.

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The organization hopes to complete their investigation by the end of this year.

For now, organizers say the next step will be collecting soil samples from residential yards in the area.