EPA proposal – More than 50,000 people in Garden Grove, California, returned home after a chemical crisis at a GKN Aerospace plant, as a separate tank rupture in Washington State killed two people and left nine missing. The incidents have renewed alarm over a Trump administr
The morning after Garden Grove’s chemical scare. families moved through their streets with a relief that came with a shadow. More than 50,000 residents returned home on Tuesday and Wednesday after a narrowly averted crisis at an aerospace plant. Their escape from disaster was quick. Their questions were not.
A week’s worth of worry soon became two tragedies. In Washington State. a rupture at a paper mill chemical tank claimed two lives and left nine people missing and presumed dead. while nine employees and one firefighter were injured. Emergency responders kept searching as of Wednesday. The cause of that rupture was not yet known.
Taken together, the back-to-back events have intensified scrutiny of the way hazardous chemicals are overseen—and of a Trump administration proposal aimed at loosening federal rules that govern risk planning at chemical plants and refineries.
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed repealing a 2024 rule that tightened safeguards designed to prevent explosions and the release of toxic chemicals at chemical plants and refineries. The rollback is opposed by California’s attorney general.
If the proposal moves forward. facilities would face fewer requirements to implement safer technologies. involve employees in safety planning. and conduct third-party audits after an accident. The plan would also erase a mandate that facilities consider climate-related disasters, such as floods, when making emergency plans.
The timing matters. The rule hasn’t been repealed yet. A call for public comment on the proposal to repeal it closed recently. Still, Earthjustice attorney Emma Cheuse said the EPA is proposing to weaken provisions before they fully kick in.
“Some of the key provisions in the rule have compliance deadlines that were going to kick in in May 2027, so EPA is proposing to undo and weaken provisions in advance of those requirements,” Cheuse said.
The rollback faces opposition beyond California. Experts also point to the practical reality of accident prevention: when safety planning is treated as optional or left to a company’s own culture, the consequences can be immediate.
“There is just not enough of that kind of planning that goes on,” said Philip Price, a retired senior research scientist and chemist in Maryland who has worked on chemical incident investigations.
The federal government’s rationale is different. The Trump administration has argued that the 2024 stipulations requiring disclosures about hazardous chemicals would make chemical facilities more vulnerable to attacks, and that the rule is costly and burdensome for businesses.
What happened in Garden Grove began on May 22 at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant. Temperatures spiked inside a tank containing around 7. 000 gallons of methyl methacrylate. increasing the risk that the liquid—used in making plexiglass—would volatilize into a gas and trigger a massive explosion.
By May 25, Orange County Fire Authority officials said a valve in the tank’s cooling system failed, creating the potential for an explosion. Methyl methacrylate can cause damage to the skin and respiratory system.
Andrew Whelton, an engineering professor at Purdue University, said the chemical’s properties mean that some people exposed to even small amounts can develop serious allergic reactions.
Whelton also stressed that response planning depends on details that are often invisible to the public until an emergency forces them into view. Price. in his own assessment. said it is not clear whether a risk management plan was in place in southern California. He also said several common safety measures—such as a permanent barrier around a tank that would contain spills—did not appear to be present. GKN did not respond to questions about this barrier and the incident by the time of publication.
The stakes in Washington State were stark even before investigators could explain why things failed. The incident occurred at a paper mill on May 26. A tank holding 900,000 gallons of a hazardous chemical called white liquor ruptured. White liquor is strongly alkaline, or basic, and causes serious burns if touched.
Nine people were missing and presumed dead, one person was dead, and eight employees and one firefighter were injured. As of Wednesday, emergency responders were continuing to search for those missing. The cause of the rupture was not yet known.
Federal officials say the scope of the 2024 rule is broad. According to the EPA, about 12,000 facilities around the country are covered by the 2024 risk management plan rule. Price said risk management plans require plant managers to think about what could go wrong and coordinate with local emergency officials so firefighters and other emergency personnel know what to expect when they are called to respond.
But the legal framework’s reach doesn’t erase the background risk. Cheuse pointed to recent patterns.
“Unfortunately. it looks like incidents continue to happen at facilities directly covered by the rule and facilities that EPA is not current regulating. so all of that just shows the need to move forward on safety and protect communities and children from toxic chemical exposure instead of backsliding. ” Cheuse said.
In California, state agencies describe the oversight system as deeply interwoven with local preparedness. Kate Folmar. a spokesperson for CalEPA. said. “California leads the nation in tracking and controlling hazardous chemicals. and CalEPA [the California Environmental Protection Agency] works with local fire and health agencies so regulators and first responders know which facilities handle dangerous materials.” She added that. guided by strong environmental justice laws. the state uses “every oversight and enforcement tool available to reduce risk and strengthen protections for the communities that have borne the greatest burdens.”.
Even with those systems in place, enforcement history shows how compliance and safety practices can be uneven. In 2025, GKN Aerospace agreed to pay more than $900,000 for violations uncovered by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration also cited the Garden Grove site in 2018 for a failure to inspect and maintain machinery as recommended.
The broader record of chemical incidents is also difficult to ignore. In 2025 alone, the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters’ Chemical Incident Tracker recorded 215 chemical incidents that received media coverage. Those included an explosion at a manufacturing facility in McEwen, Tenn., that killed 16 people.
Investigations are still ongoing into more recent disasters. The federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigations Board is currently investigating two 2026 hydrogen sulfide releases—one in West Virginia and one in Maine—each of which killed two workers.
As residents in Garden Grove returned to their homes this week, the accidents were already being measured against a pending rollback that could change what facilities must do before the next emergency.
The question now isn’t whether chemical hazards exist. It is whether the rules meant to anticipate them will be strengthened—or reduced—while communities continue to pay the price of every failure.
chemical accident EPA risk management plan rule methyl methacrylate Garden Grove GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems white liquor paper mill rupture chemical safety chemical incidents environmental regulation Earthjustice CalEPA