Chemical Plant Incidents Prompt Review of Federal Safety Rules

A tank holding nearly 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate overheated at a GKN Aerospace plastics plant in Garden Grove, California, forcing mass evacuations and a state of emergency declaration. Residents were allowed to return Tuesday morning. Hours later, a 900,000-gallon tank of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide, and disodium carbonate imploded at Nippon Dynawave's paper mill in Longview, Washington, killing 11 workers.

It said the violations did not involve chemical process or storage safety. The Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters reported at least 215 hazardous chemical incidents nationwide in 2025 and 1,446 since 2021.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to remove third-party audit requirements, employee hazard-reporting procedures, and climate-risk planning rules added in 2024. The changes would apply to roughly 12,000 facilities. An EPA spokesperson said the revisions preserve core protections while removing duplicative rules.

The agency added that both recent incidents are regulated primarily by state agencies. The White House budget request for 2027 seeks to eliminate funding for the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, which is currently investigating the Longview incident.

GKN Aerospace stated it is examining the Garden Grove event and ways to assist those affected. Nippon Dynawave did not respond to requests for comment.