To the editor: The massive threat to Orange County from the Garden Grove chemical plant is consistent with western Riverside County’s August 2022 near-explosion of a 69-ton rail tank car filled with another insidious self-overheating plastics chemical called styrene (“Garden Grove’s chemical crisis: Thousands flee as conditions worsen at damaged tank,” May 23).
That was no one-off. Another such styrene rail car incident followed near Cincinnati in September 2024.
Here in Riverside County, nearby homes and schools were evacuated. The 215 Freeway and Metrolink’s Perris Line shut down. Toxic smoke drifted over March Air Reserve Base’s takeoff runway. Adjacent homeowners ran outside gagging. And right next to where that tank car was parked, the same rail line delivers toxic chlorine used to treat Colorado River Aqueduct water flowing below into Lake Mathews.
Public safety demands ongoing prevention of such extreme hazards, not apologetic responses. Fire and other public agencies must know what they’re facing and be trained and equipped.
Inventory and prioritize the threats now. Demand funding from chemical producers and railroads. Shut down or buy out the worst sites. These toxic sources must be first on any list of “blight” for redevelopment. Stop “grandfathering” dangerous new chemicals on old industrial sites.
Bob Buster, Riverside
This writer is a former supervisor of Riverside County.
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To the editor: I am hopeful that, as I write this, GKN Aerospace and the responding emergency services can contain the danger posed by this situation. GKN should pay the full freight for expenses related to this event.
I think people are pretty damn tired of having private companies destroy our environment in their pursuit of profits and, when they are finished, taxpayer funds end up being used to clean up their mess.
David Gene Echt, Torrance
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To the editor: These questions need to be answered: How were tanks of toxic and explosive chemicals and residential neighborhoods allowed to be in such close proximity? What zoning, fire and health codes allowed this? What is the liability of the affected cities and county for allowing it?
David E. Ross, Oak Park
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To the editor: A single volatile chemical tank raises the question, “Why is this even possible in a residential area of Orange County?”
Ask instead, “Why is it possible to host 3.6 million pounds of eternally lethal nuclear fuel poison on the beach at San Onofre in stainless cans less than an inch thick, only 100 feet from the tide mark and a few feet above the water table?”
California’s Assembly and Senate will vote on Assembly Bill 2647, which bypasses the 50-year moratorium on new nuclear energy until a valid resolution to store nuclear fuel can be developed — yet it has never been resolved in the 50 years since. They will vote on lobby propaganda in dressed-up and failed old technology for the estimated profits of the corporate nuclear utility sector.
Public awareness of how irresponsible corporate profit actions threaten public lives on all aspects of American life is crucial, especially in this era of deregulation and corporate ownership of governmental, administrative, oversight and judicial processes in the USA.
Ronald Rodarte, San Clemente
