$125 million settlement reached after dangerous Garden Grove chemical leak

SANTA ANA (CNS) – A $125 million settlement has been reached with the operators of a Garden Grove plastics manufacturing plant where a chemical leak forced thousands of people from their homes and businesses in May, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced today.

The settlement will set aside up to $100 million for approximately 50,000 residents who were forced to evacuate because of the hazardous materials emergency at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems Inc. plant.

First responders who handled the Memorial Day weekend emergency will be reimbursed
$8,471,385.50 under the agreement, which still requires approval from an Orange County Superior Court judge, Spitzer’s office reported.

The company also agreed to seven years of monitoring, including oversight by an independent expert to ensure the plant complies with applicable laws and regulations. GKN will pay $1.4 million for that monitoring.

The District Attorney’s Office will receive $15 million in penalties under state law to be used for consumer protection enforcement.

Spitzer said his office worked with outside chemical safety experts to analyze what happened and that GKN fully cooperated with the investigation.

In July, the county sent a letter to the company demanding $4,071,305 in reimbursement for resources used to respond to the leak involving the cooling system of a 34,000-gallon chemical storage tank.

The hazardous materials emergency began May 21 when a leak was detected at the facility at 12122 Western Ave

Tens of thousands of residents in Garden Grove, the entire city of Stanton and other nearby communities were forced to evacuate for several days during Memorial Day weekend as crews worked
to neutralize a toxic chemical stored in tanks that had overheated, raising fears of an explosion.

Ultimately, a crack in the damaged tank relieved the pressure inside it, eliminating the risk of an explosion.

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