Union Pacific Railroad Concealed for Decades Toxic Contamination of Wichita Industrial Site, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action alleges the Union Pacific Railroad Company has known for decades yet concealed from the public that it has mishandled and released toxic chemicals and other hazardous waste from its Wichita, Kansas industrial railroad site into the surrounding environment. 

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According to the 28-page lawsuit, Union Pacific’s use or transport of chemical degreasing agents—solvents, acids and metals—at the site, known as the 29th and Grove Environmental Site, has caused toxic contaminants to be released into the soil, groundwater and air, and migrate to proposed class members’ properties. 

The filing stresses that the presence of toxic, carcinogenic contaminants from the 29th and Grove Environmental Site in the surrounding area poses a significant health risk to residents of contaminated properties.

“As a result of Defendant’s actions, specifically, the inadequate containment, handling, and remedial activities, the toxic and hazardous contaminants have entered and contaminated Plaintiffs’ and Class Members’ properties—their air, land, groundwater, dwelling place (homes) and their surrounding environment, thereby causing [residents] to suffer endangerment to their health, damage to their property and personal finances, and destruction of their community,” the lawsuit summarizes. 

According to the complaint, the contamination of the Wichita Union Pacific site is believed to date back to chemical spills that occurred in the 1970s or 1980s, and possibly earlier. The spills and leaks stemming from Union Pacific’s operations at the site have contaminated neighborhoods that extend roughly three miles south and numerous city blocks that extend laterally, the suit states.

Union Pacific did nothing to notify the general public in the area that their properties were contaminated or otherwise threatened by contamination, the case alleges, claiming the railroad failed to properly control and remediate the contamination for at least 50 years during its ownership of the site. 

The suit alleges the contaminants released into the environment by Union Pacific include volatile organic compounds, including chlorinated solvents, such as trichloroethylene (TCE), 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1 TCA), cis-1,2-dichloroethene (c-1,1-DCE), 1,2- dichloroethene (1,2, -DCE), vinyl chloride, chloroform methylene chloride and 1,4 dioxane. Per the case, TCE is a known human carcinogen and degrades into other chlorinated solvents that are also known carcinogens. 

Per the filing, in a series of public meetings in the fall of 2022, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment presented facts about the contamination of the 29th and Grove Environmental Site in northeast Wichita and related health risks. From there, following at least two other public meetings, news outlets began to report to the general public on the “cancerous chemical spill” at the Union Pacific site, the suit says. 

The complaint adds that the Union Pacific industrial site was confirmed in 1998 as the source of contamination, and in 2002, the railroad entered into a consent order with Kansas to investigate the contamination and potential remediation measures. The following year, the case says, Union Pacific learned that the contamination extended nearly three miles south of the site to Murdock Ave and was “several blocks wide,” yet the company “consistently failed to reveal the contamination to the community.” 

The lawsuit looks to cover all persons who, as of September 8, 2022, own any residential property in the following area northeast of Wichita [sic throughout]: 

“The Class Area can narratively be defined as all residential properties within the area defined as all residents on both sides of the road: Beginning at the corner of E 27th St. N and N. Grove St. travelling south on N. Grove Street to E 23rd Street, travelling East on E 23rd St to N. Poplar St., travelling South on N. Poplar Street to and continuing South to E. 19th Street, travelling West on E. 19th Street to N. Grove Street, travelling South on N. Grove Street to the pedestrian walk south of E. Murdock Avenue; travelling west on the pedestrian path to Highway 81/I-135; travelling North on Highway 81/I-135 to N. New York Avenue continuing due East to the corner of N. Grove Street and E. 27th Street N.” 

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