GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, where a faulty chemical tank prompted mass evacuations, paid nearly $1 million to settle numerous environmental violations in 2021, including failing to keep emission records and operating equipment without a permit.
Following an on-site inspection in November 2020, the South Coast Air Quality Management District cited GKN Aerospace for failing to maintain required emission records for volatile organic compounds, which are gases emitted from paints, coatings and solvents, according to the AQMD, the regional agency responsible for regulating air quality in Southern California.
The inspection also found that GKN had operated new equipment without obtaining a permit, operated existing equipment that did not match the description in a permit, and modified permitted equipment without applying for a permit change, as required by the AQMD.
According to public records, the inspection also found that GKN used materials containing hexavalent chrome, a dangerous carcinogen; used coatings containing toxic air contaminants; and exceeded facility-wide volatile organic compound emissions. The plant also was found to have failed to conduct portable analyzer tests, which are required to determine emissions of nitrogen oxides from combustion equipment.
In March 2025, two more notices to comply were issued to GKN — one to obtain operating records and another requiring the facility to submit an application to register certain equipment as well as an application for change of ownership for the facility.
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According to a spokesperson for the South Coast AQMD, the agency has been working closely with GKN to help resolve the permitting issues.
As part of the settlement for the 2021 notice of violation, a civil penalty of an estimated $900,000 was paid by GKN, the spokesperson said in an email.
The United Kingdom-based company had no response to the large penalty and directed the Orange County Register to a general comment on the chemical crisis posted on its website.
“We are fully focused on working with emergency services, specialized hazardous material teams and relevant authorities to ensure the safety of the local community, our employees and everyone else involved,” the post stated. “We sincerely apologize for the significant disruption to the many local residents and businesses who have had to be evacuated.”
This wasn’t the first time that GKN has been cited by a government agency.
The company was penalized by the state Department of Industrial Relations in 2018 after an inspection revealed the company wasn’t inspecting or maintaining all machinery and equipment in service, with the more specific violation being “fabricating and adding a top cover on head cover of Fadel CNC machines and using appropriate cutting coolant.”
The GKN facility has been operating in Garden Grove since 1993. It is primarily known as a worldwide leading manufacturer of cockpit windshields, jet canopies and aviation windows for civil and military aircraft. The site, which employs 540, even developed a line of special bullet-resistant glass.
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Some 40,000 people in parts of that city and nearby communities were ordered to evacuate Friday as fire officials predicted the distressed tank would either leak thousands of gallons of dangerous chemicals or explode altogether.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health also has opened an investigation into the chemical crisis.