By: Jamal Carter
For years, families in Houston’s Black neighborhoods have raised the same unsettling question: why do the heaviest and most dangerous industrial projects always land in our communities? Why are new smokestacks, storage tanks, and chemical warehouses built near our schools instead of in the wealthier parts of town? A new environ- mental report released in late November 2025 finally puts numbers behind those suspicions — and the numbers are alarming. Nearly 90 per- cent of proposed petro-chemical and industrial expansions in Texas are set to be placed in or near communities of color. And nowhere is that pattern more visible than in Houston.
The findings hit especially hard in areas many residents now refer to as the city’s “Cancer Alley,” including the Fifth Ward, Pleasantville, Denver Harbor, and Kashmere Gardens. These communities are more than just neighborhoods — they are living chapters of Black history, shaped by generations of families, churches, small businesses, and cultural pride. But over the decades, they have also become some of the most overburdened and overlooked environmental hotspots in the state.
One of the clearest examples is the long-standing cancer cluster in Kashmere Gardens and parts of the Fifth Ward. The state of Texas has already acknowledged elevated cancer rates in that region, and families there have been dealing with the consequences for years: loved ones battling rare illnesses, neighbors passing away too soon, and entire blocks experiencing health problems that simply don’t happen at the same rates in other parts of Houston. Even with that official recognition, cleanup efforts have moved slowly. What worries residents now is that instead of slowing down industrial growth in the area, new petrochemical proposals continue to pop up around the same communities already carrying the heaviest burden.
Environmental justice advocates say the latest report confirms what they’ve been warning about for decades: these neighborhoods are not chosen by accident. They are chosen because companies assume they can build here with the least resistance. Dr. Robert Bullard — widely known as the “father of environmental justice” and one of the most respected voices in this field — has repeatedly pointed out that race is the strongest predictor of where hazardous facilities are placed in the United States. Wealthier and largely white communities have the political power to block industrial projects long before they break ground. Black communities, despite decades of activism and organizing, have not been given that same protection.
Pleasantville is another neighborhood highlighted in recent years.
