The removal of neutralized methyl methacrylate from two storage tanks at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove is now scheduled to begin Monday, June 29.
The chemical, often referred to as MMA, can be highly volatile and a malfunctioning tank of it was at the center of a chemical scare over the Memorial Day weekend that prompted the evacuation of some 50,000 residents in the area and shuttered nearby businesses over multiple days while emergency crews worked to prevent an explosion or large spill. The overheating tank was ultimately secured, and the evacuations were lifted shortly after the holiday.
The removal operation will be carried out in “carefully managed phases, over several days, with multiple layers of safety protocols and oversight measures in place,” according to a June 26 update from the OC Health Care Agency. Work is expected to take through Wednesday, July 2.
“Specialized containers will be used, incorporating features that support temperature control and secure transport,” said officials with the Health Care Agency, which is working with the South Coast Air Quality Management District and GKN Aerospace to execute the cleanup.
“Operations will be adjusted as needed in response to conditions and will occur during daylight hours only,” the update said. “Temporary, intermittent odors may occur during this activity in the area near the GKN Aerospace facility. MMA has a fruity smell with a very low odor threshold, meaning people may notice a scent even when concentrations are well below levels associated with health concerns.”
For weeks since the incident, Garden Grove residents have packed city meetings, raising concerns about the future of the plant and MMA’s storage and to demand answers from GKN officials. They heard directly from a company executive for the first time earlier this month, when GKN Aerospace Senior Vice President Steve Carlin attended a council meeting where he offered an apology on behalf of the company, took questions from the City Council and promised to host a town hall meeting to hear community concerns.
Carlin attended another council meeting this week, saying select GKN Aerospace employees are returning to work. The site in Garden Grove employs more than 500 workers — who company officials said have been paid during the plant’s closure.
“The overwhelming majority of our employees work in unaffected parts of the site, or processes entirely unrelated to the incident that occurred. Many of these highly skilled colleagues have been returning to their jobs in recent days, some to finish shipping goods, and others checking equipment and resetting production lines,” Carlin said, adding, “To be clear, none of the work being undertaken involves MMA, which has been on pause since the incident.”
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The plant on Western Avenue is a leading worldwide manufacturer of cockpit windshields, jet canopies and aviation windows for civil and military aircraft.
“Garden Grove is vitally critical to aviation across the U.S. and internationally. So we are excited to start initial work to get back to delivering products to the world that needs them,” Carlin said.
“As we are getting back to work, safety remains our paramount priority and concern. As such, we are collaborating closely with a long list of regulators and other authorities,” he said, naming the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Carlin offered no timeline for when residents should expect a town hall meeting, but said: “I will provide an update as soon as I have more information.”
Efforts to remove the neutralized chemical from the site, initially planned for early June, were delayed. Authorities planned to pump the chemical from the tank and into sealed trucks to be taken away for disposal, but a Health Care Agency representative at the time said the operation was stalled because of a delay in the delivery of the required trucks.
In tandem with the cleanup efforts planned next week, health officials said they’d conduct continuous air monitoring, including “targeted air and odor monitoring based on wind conditions.”
Updates on cleanup activities and an interactive dashboard showing air monitoring data can be found at occupainfo.com .
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