Hurricanes and toxic sludge from the Houston Ship Canal? Let’s not do it.

These days, it seems like the next big storm is never far away in Houston. An unexpected extreme weather event in mid-May left eight people dead and nearly a million people without power. More recently, Hurricane Beryl made a last-minute turn east and made a direct hit on Houston. At least seven people have died in our area and millions more have been without power.

We are already experiencing the climate crisis. We must adapt.

Most of the proposed solutions to the climate crisis are far-reaching: new air pollution controls for the entire electricity generation sector, a coastal barrier in the Gulf of Mexico costing tens of billions of dollars, and so on. Fortunately, polls consistently show that Americans support decisive action on climate change. Even in Texas, even from Republicans.

Planning for the climate crisis is about integrating what we know into all aspects of decision-making. Indeed, as we learn more about the impacts of climate change, we see potential dangers in almost every aspect of public life.

Nowhere in our region are the risks more apparent than in communities along the Houston Ship Channel, where floodwaters from the next tropical storm could send one of the many dangerous chemicals used in nearby industrial facilities into someone’s home, including mine in Pleasantville. Hurricane Harvey in 2017, for example, triggered nearly two dozen air pollution events at industrial facilities. If you lived near one of those plants, your lungs likely got a heavy dose of what was in the air.

The Healthy Port Communities Coalition is a partnership of nonprofit community organizations working to create a healthier Houston by empowering residents to recognize local issues and advocate for their communities. For several years, we have been following the Port of Houston Authority’s latest plan to widen and deepen the Houston Ship Channel. The plan, called Project 11, will cost $1 billion and is expected to be completed in 2027. The result will be greater room for mega-ships to enter and exit the Houston area.

The Port Houston Authority plans to dump sediment contaminated by toxins removed from the channel floor by Project 11 in nearby communities: Pleasantville, Clinton Park, Port Houston and Galena Park. These historically low-income and minority communities have for decades been unintentionally home to “dredge dumping grounds,” large open sites where dredged material (the term for toxic sludge removed from the channel floor) is dumped on a permanent basis.

These sites are surrounded by berms that overlook homes, roads and parks. Residents often know little or nothing about what lies inside. In Galena Park, for example, hills of dredged material overlook the Galena Park Sports Complex, where Little League baseball games and other community activities are held.

The risks associated with this spill are more than just speculation. In June, HPCC and its partners announced that tests on soil samples taken from the perimeter of existing dredging dump sites revealed alarming levels of arsenic and other harmful toxins.

HPCC recently learned that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is leading the next phase of the canal expansion project, used new Atlas-14 data to analyze the risk of heavy rain on proposed dredging areas under Project 11. However, the Corps has not updated its recommendations to account for disasters like Harvey. Its new engineering designs could have a disastrous impact on residents.

Many of the proposed dredging areas have high berms that serve as stormwater retention basins. What happens if these areas are filled with new material? The Army Corps of Engineers is quick to point out that these areas are surrounded by berms, not levees. The Army Corps of Engineers has publicly stated that it will not evaluate whether these berms can withstand the floodwaters that would occur during a 100-year rainfall event. These floodwaters could saturate or erode the berms, which could lead to a repeat of the 1957 berm failure, which dumped contaminated sludge over much of Pleasantville.

The risk is higher in communities that are home to dredged material and are unprepared for extreme weather events. Pleasantville, for example, sits on land that simply can’t handle rain anymore. The Port of Houston Authority has proposed drainage improvement projects for Pleasantville, but won’t commit to them without specific federal grants. Such projects would also depend on funding from the city of Houston and the Texas Department of Transportation.

It is unacceptable for the Army Corps and the Port of Houston Authority to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue into a project without addressing the major flooding issues in host communities.

Flooding near a dredged material disposal area could be disastrous. What can be done to prevent dredged material from contaminating communities?

Adapting to climate change is not cheap, but the Houston Ship Channel generates hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity each year. We will not accept this prosperity at the expense of community safety. The Port of Houston Authority and the companies that do business at the port should invest in climate solutions that will allow the Port of Houston and its communities to thrive for decades to come.

This should include solutions that will keep port communities safe – during hurricane season and throughout the year – from any impacts from Project 11 during its completion and in the years to come.

Bridgette Murray is the founder of ACTS: Achieving Community Tasks Successfully, one of nine member organizations of the Healthy Port Communities Coalition. Bridgette Murray lives in the port community of Pleasantville.