Garden Grove aerospace firm to pay up to $100 million to residents who evacuated over chemical leak
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Set us as preferred A major aerospace company responsible for a chemical leak in Garden Grove in May will pay up to $100 million to residents forced to evacuate during the emergency, under an agreement the company reached with the Orange County district attorney.More than 50,000 residents had to evacuate when a pressurized chemical tank owned by GKN Aerospace started to heat dangerously on May 21.
The company’s cooling system failed to bring the temperatures down, and fire officials warned the tank could explode or cause a major spill.The tank contained about 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate, a toxic chemical used to make plastics.
The company has decommissioned the tank involved in the incident, it said.About 13,000 to 17,000 households in the neighborhood around the GKN Aerospace facility had to evacuate over five days, the district attorney’s office said.
Under the claim program announced Monday, residents and businesses are to be reimbursed for expenses such as hotel stays, loss of use, meals, transportation and loss of wages.“The community has an absolute expectation that businesses operating within their neighborhoods operate safely and lawfully,” Dist.
Atty.Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
“I am pleased that GKN has been and continues to be responsive to any and all requests throughout this investigation.” California Orange County is demanding that GKN Aerospace, the company whose Garden Grove facility sparked a chemical crisis that forced wide evacuations across six cities, pay more than $4 million to cover costs stemming from the emergency.The company said in a statement that it expects people to be able to start submitting claims this fall, with payments for eligible claims to follow “swiftly thereafter.” The firm did not specify how people will be asked to apply, but the program will be a...