GKN Aerospace’s up-to-$100 million claims program is expected to go live for submissions in the “first half of October.”
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The claims program is aimed at the 50,000-plus residents and local businesses across six cities who were forced to evacuate over the Memorial Day weekend when a failing chemical tank at the company’s Garden Grove plant filled with potentially toxic and volatile methyl methacrylate threatened either an explosion and plume or street-level spill.
“I’m happy to report now that we expect to open up the claims process, it will be open for submission of claims next month in October,” GKN Senior Vice President Steve Carlin said at a recent Garden Grove council meeting.
“When we start finalizing some details, working in conjunction with the DA’s Office, once we have a final date and we’re a little more close to it, we’ll be announcing a slew of community events,” Carlin said, adding, “phone banks will be set up. We’ll also announce the location of a storefront for a physical location for people to come in and submit claims and things like that.”
The program will allow businesses and residents to recoup costs associated with evacuations, including for hotel stays, loss of wages, meals and transportation.
GKN Aerospace first announced the claims program in August, after an Orange County District Attorney’s Office criminal probe into the company launched in the midst of the chemical scare ended without charges.
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GKN Aerospace and local prosecutors are still negotiating a comprehensive safety plan that could include ongoing independent monitoring of the Garden Grove facility.
Contingent on that safety plan, GKN Aerospace plans to “resume full manufacturing operations” this month on Sept. 28 and is “working closely with relevant agencies and officials to do so,” the company said in a statement posted on its website.
“Any future operations involving tank storage will be conducted pursuant to a court-approved safety plan. These operations will use an entirely separate system from the incident tank — one that has been enhanced and upgraded, inspected, and certified as fit for service by industry-leading experts, and equipped with additional monitoring devices to support ongoing safe operations,” the company said.
“Tank #1 (the “incident” tank) will not be used again,” it said. “The Orange County Certified Unified Program Agencies (CUPA) and other regulatory agencies will continue to oversee activities related to Tank #1 to ensure all safety, legal, and environmental requirements are met.”
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