Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
HOUSTON -- Living next door to a rail yard, one would think that Gladys Anderson would have an idea what chemicals are in the neighboring tanker cars. However, she doesn't, and the government won't tell.
“They park right at my back door. Early in the morning, late at night you think someone's in the bed with you,” Anderson said. “I don't have no idea (what's in them). I wish I knew.”
11 News tried to get a list of the chemicals the rail cars are carrying through Houston, but the Federal Rail Administration said that list is not available to the media or the general public.
So, 11 News turned to a community activist who watches the trains.
“That car that we just identified is hauling 1052 Hydrogen Chloride,” said Albert Coleman, the president of Super Neighborhoods as he pointed to a car parked not far from Anderson's east Houston home. “It's fatal if inhaled or ingested or absorbed through the skin. These are some very dangerous chemicals that are being stored in this yard.”
Coleman, a retired Houston police officer, looks for red signs on the side of rail cars. The numbers on those signs signify the types of toxic chemicals inside the rail cars.
“Not only are they passing through, they are standing for periods of time which has raised the concern for residents here,” said Coleman.
11 News did a bit of train spotting, using an emergency response guidebook as a guide. One of the cars was carrying a chemical that if it was to leak would be highly flammable and possibly explosive once it makes contact with the air.
That leaves people like Anderson to wonder just how safe they are living so close to the trains.
