GKN Aerospace, the company responsible for a chemical tank incident last month that saw 50,000 people evacuate in North Orange County is pledging over $3 million to help people who had to evacuate, but some are questioning if that’s enough to make a dent.
In a news release Wednesday afternoon, GKN leaders announced they gave $3 million to the OC Community Resilience Fund launched by United Way to help business owners and residents impacted by the evacuations.
“By working with a trusted local organization with the infrastructure to mobilize resources quickly, we hope to help expedite assistance to those most in need,” said GKN Senior Vice President Steve Carlin, who oversees the Garden Grove site’s programs, in the Wednesday news release.
“We will continue to engage with community leaders, work with the authorities, and help the community move forward.”
Approved residents and business owners that apply to the fund can only claim $500 per household according to Elizabeth Andrade, executive director of 211 OC, which is helping disperse the funds.
“It’s not intended to be a reimbursement for any losses, it’s intended to help community members who were impacted,” Andrade said in a Thursday interview. “Some folks have to pay for a motel, it might not pay for several nights in a motel but it might just help people.”
Congressman Derek Tran, who represents most of the area that had to evacuate across cities like Stanton, Garden Grove, Westminster, Cypress, Anaheim, and Buena Park, said the funds are not enough.
“While this decision is a necessary acknowledgment that they have broken faith with our community, it is insufficient,” Tran wrote in a Wednesday statement. “Every family and small business that was displaced or shut down during this crisis deserves full compensation. I expressed that this is non-negotiable.”
GKN leaders did not respond to a request for comment Thursday on Tran’s response.
County Supervisor Janet Nguyen, who also represents most of the area, said she wants to see GKN immediately offer full refunds to all the homes and businesses impacted by the evacuation.
“This is a good start, but we need to make sure everybody is made whole,” Nguyen said in a Thursday interview. “They spent it, that’s a fact. They should be able to get reimbursed now.”
Beyond the $3 million, GKN leaders said in their Wednesday news release they gave $1 million to the American Red Cross and on their website pledged “an additional $1 million to support broader community initiatives across Orange County.”
The fund comes after elected officials across the county last week said impacted residents and business owners would get a chance to be reimbursed or compensated through a claim process without providing clear detail on how that process would work.
[Read: OC Residents Impacted by Faulty Chemical Tank May Get Reimbursed]
Supervisor Doug Chaffee, who chairs the county board of supervisors, called the company’s current pledges “only a drop in the bucket,” and encouraged them to set up a better claims process.
“I anticipate liability to be well north of $100 million,” Chaffee wrote in a Thursday statement.
Stanton Mayor David Shawver said he appreciates the company taking action, but it’s just a start.
“As far as the amounts go, I think that the company probably has the intention of expanding that in the future, but I think they have to find out probably what the damages were, or the reimbursement costs that are needed,” he said in a Thursday phone interview.
“It was good for them to make the initial contribution, because we have to get started somewhere,” he added. “The expectations of not only my city but all of us is that they try to make everyone whole.”
Shawver added the city is working on organizing food and diaper distributions for the affected areas in the next couple of weeks
Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein did not respond to a request for comment on GKN’s donation, instead directing questions to a city spokesman.
How to Apply For The Fund
In order to get access, Andrade said to call 2-1-1 and dial seven, at which point residents have to offer some form of photo ID, proof of residency and an explanation of how they were impacted by the evacuations.
Originally, the fund was only set to give $250 per household, but after GKN’s donation the threshold was increased to $500 according to Andrade.
Andrade also said the money was “separate” from any lawsuits or claims filed against GKN, and that the money was intended to be for “charitable support.”
“We’re trying to make it as simple and quick as possible for folks,” Andrade said. “We are processing daily, so by the time someone has been verified our finance team is turning that around in 24 hours. We’re talking about a couple of days maximum.”
What Happens Next?
Nguyen said county leaders are still waiting on the after action report from the evacuation, but that she already has a host of ideas for changes to make in the future based on what she saw.
She noted that the American Red Cross was in charge of managing the few emergency shelters that popped up during the evacuations, and while she praised their and the county’s work, she also called out a series of problems.
Last month, residents from Stanton and Garden Grove shared how the lack of open emergency shelters meant many had to sleep in their cars or pay for expensive hotel rooms for nearly a week to avoid sleeping on the street.
[Read: Garden Grove and Stanton Demand Accountability for Chemical Tank Emergency]
Nguyen noted that services like wifi, showers and food were not immediately available or evenly distributed among the shelters, and pinned the slow opening of shelters on the Red Cross.
“The county and everybody worked very well, I think there’s some gaps we can approve on,” Nguyen said. “We can just always do better.”
She also noted that it’s unclear when the rest of the chemicals at GKN’s facility will be removed, with county leaders notified on Thursday morning their removal was being delayed because the company couldn’t figure out a place to dispose of them.
“They’re still looking into it and how they’re going to be able to remove them.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
