Nearly 2 Million Californians Live Within 3 Miles of Plants Storing Methyl Methacrylate Like GKN in Garden Grove

The first federal law for transporting hazardous materials was passed in 1866, regulating explosives and flammable materials. This was followed in 1871 by a law making it a criminal offense to ship certain dangerous substances on passenger ships in U.S.

waters. The establishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887 was the first step toward a uniform code covering all modes of transport.

A fatal accident on April 16, 1866, in San Francisco is often credited with driving regulators to action. A shipment of unmarked crates had arrived at the harbor two days earlier from New York via Panama.

A wharf employee noticed a crate leaking an oily substance and forwarded it to Wells Fargo and Co. When the crate was opened, it exploded, killing 15 people and injuring many more.

The Wells Fargo office was destroyed, and extensive damage occurred for blocks. Days later, a freighter in Panama loaded with hundreds of boxes of nitroglycerin destined for California exploded, killing 50 people.

The public became acutely aware of the risks. Initial regulations targeted rail and passenger ships, but later expanded to highways and air transport.

The Environmental Protection Agency, founded in 1970, uses standards to classify hazardous materials: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. The NFPA 704 fire diamond, developed in the 1950s, is the American standard for identifying hazardous materials.

It was created after a fire in Charlotte, North Carolina, where firefighters died because they did not know the type of chemical fire they faced. The diamond has four sections rating health, flammability, and instability on a scale from 0 to 4.

In Orange County, Garden Grove is home to a GKN plant that stores methyl methacrylate. Nearly 2 million Californians live within three miles of such facilities, raising concerns about public safety and emergency preparedness.