Something's rotten in West University

Wheat left from a derailment mixed with ongoing rain raises a stink in the neighborhood

By KEVIN MORAN Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle (July 27, 2007)

Wheat that spilled after a train derailed in a West University neighborhood earlier this month now smells so bad residents say they're being forced to stay inside.

"It smells like sewage just sitting there in the backyard," said Alana Kirsch, whose 5-year-old son, Texas, can't use his backyard swing set because of the stench. "It's nasty."

"It smells like a farm feed lot," said 13-year-resident Joel Stelling, Kirsch's neighbor. "It's slop back there. The smell is blowing through the neighborhood."

Union Pacific cleanup crews didn't finish the job after four cars carrying wheat and corn overturned July 2, spilling into residents' backyards, neighbors say. The remains have begun to rot and ferment.

"They cleaned up the majority of it over the July 4th holiday but some of it still remains and the rain has mixed in with the wheat to cause a really foul odor," Joel said.

UP spokesman James Barnes said Thursday that workers can't take heavy equipment onto the site to remove the rotting leftovers because rains have made the ground too unstable. And UP isn't making any promises about when it will be able to relieve the neighborhood of the stench.
"When the ground is firm enough to support the equipment, we will work as expeditiously as possible," Barnes said. "But we have to be mindful of the conditions because we wouldn't want to move in the equipment and then compromise safety or have stranded equipment out there."
Barnes said UP has no estimate of how many days of dry weather must pass before something can be done.

"We actually have people who go out and look at the situation and monitor how things are going," Barnes said. "As soon as we can get in there, we will restart the cleanup as quickly and safely as possible."

That's not the answer Joel and other neighbors want to hear.

Joel said he's suggested that UP use pumping equipment he saw during the first cleanup effort to move the rotting material to the opposite side of the railroad right-of-way, where there are no homes. Ground there is higher and the material might dry more quickly there, he said.

Barnes said he's not sure if pumping is possible but the company will do what it can to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

"We really apologize to the residents for the inconvenience," Barnes said.

kevin.moran@chron.com