Christine Gerbode

COMMENT OF THE DAY: MAKING SURE THE HOUSE WINS HOUSTON’S TOXICITY GAMBLE “Its very clear that the east side of town has the largest concentration of known pollution release points (permitted and otherwise). However, you can also easily see that there are corridors extending to the north, northwest, and south. They follow the most active freight rail lines, and the heavy industry that got built up all around them. And then there’s hazmat stuff like this, which can be located basically in any warehouse, office warehouse, distribution center, or manufacturing facility in any part of town — and it won’t get onto the map. (Remember the explosion in West, TX? Not gonna be on the map.)  . . . If you want the best odds on avoiding all that stuff, then find yourself a relatively new neighborhood that was built as greenfield development, check historical imagery on Google Earth to confirm what was there previously, buy a house in the interior of it, and be sure that you’re getting your water from a large, well-run water system. You should never drive into the city for any sort of business, civic, or educational function without donning a gas mask, and you should bring bottled water from home. Or you could just accept that there are some risks in life and balance them with the things you value — whatever that may be.” [TheNiche, commenting on That Blood Red Stuff in the Bayou May Not Be Spring Branch’s Biggest Problem Right Now] Map of Houston area Superfund sites: EPA Enviromapper