The Loosely Regulated Petrochemical Barge Industry Is Commandeering a Texas River
SAN JACINTO RIVER, Texas — Over the past 30 years, federal and state agencies in Texas have allowed hundreds of oil and chemical barges to amass in a once-tranquil section of the San Jacinto River, just east of Houston.
Only about 100 barges were on the six-mile stretch of water in 1990, according to a Public Health Watch analysis of archival satellite imagery. Today, at least 600 crowd the narrow waterway.
For Houston’s refineries, chemical plants and pipeline terminals, the long, lumbering cargo ships are indispensable. They keep products moving on the adjoining Houston Ship Channel, one of the nation’s busiest shipping lanes and largest distribution centers for the chemicals used to make plastics and other everyday items.
But for the 54,000 residents of Channelview and Highlands — the two Harris County communities that border the San Jacinto River — the growing industry represents danger, not prosperity.
https://publichealthwatch.org/2025/12/29/the-loosely-regulated-petrochemical-barge-industry-is-commandeering-a-texas-river/