⏰💣Why Was A British Owned Chemical Plant Permitted In A California Residential Neighborhood, Especially With All CA's Environmental Rules?!!⏰💣
(jdrucker.substack.com)
Crime & Democrats �
According to what little I’ve found so far. It looks like it may have been a pre-existing Industrial Facility that GKN acquired and converted. So it would likely have been grandfathered in. GKN has been in operation there since the 90s. So finding anything about the lot reliably predating the start of their operations in 93. Is a bit iffy.
But it would explain why it was allowed to operate with Californias nanny state. That and no one with money was inconvenienced or endangered until fairly recently. So it would track with historic U.S precedent. In that as long as it’s the poors and Middle Class getting sick and doing the dying. Most levels of Government from Federal on down to the local and Wealthy don’t particularly care all that much.
Here's what I found. It seems the GKN facility had a long history of lax observance of safety and OSHA regulations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_Grove_chemical_leak
Let me explain something about the inspection process. Inspections are meant to protect the public first and foremost. They are also meant not as a punishment for companies, except in extreme cases, but are there mostly as a means to make corrections and bring a company into compliance - a learning experience. The regulatory environment is a minefield and often with no clear guidance on what exactly has to be done. The regs can be confusing and vague. Many times a company is not even aware of what certain things are required. It is not always clear. I have first hand experience in dealing with this - not only on the business end of it, but also as being a State compliance inspector myself. It is usually not a case of deliberate non compliance, but more times than not, a company was simply not aware of the non compliance. Like I said, the regulatory environment is a minefield and it has gotten more so over the years - especially in CA.
The article appears to me to be mostly about required documentation. If you have ever had to actually deal with that required documentation, you cannot understand what a quagmire it actually is. It can bury you as it is not always apparent as to what is required and what is merely a recommendation. Most business owners have no problem being compliant as long as they are given clear direction as to what to do. Inspectors do not want to shut companies down or make them go bankrupt. We just want them to operate safely. At least that was my attitude as an inspector.
One thing about OSHA inspections. Usually OSHA is called into a situation because of a disgruntle former employee as a means to get back at an employer over a labor dispute. OSHA sadly is often used as a weapon by employees against an employer. Granted, there are cases where there are gross violations of OSHA regs that are detrimental to employee safety. Those situations must be identified. But the reality is that most of the so called violations found by OSHA are due to lack of required documentation records - not an actual physical situation that threatened employee safety. That appears to be the bulk of what this company seems to have done where it concerns OSHA. CA also is a state that has its own OSHA - Cal OSHA. The article does not specify whether it was Federal OSHA or Cal OSHA. Those documentation matters can be corrected to bring the company into compliance. Like I said, it is a regulatory minefield out there.
Peace. I'm content with dealing with paperwork issues. But, in my opinion, the plant design was oblivious to the question of how to cope with an emergency condition. That is more fundamental than paperwork.
Let's just say I am sensitized by some memorable safety lapses I have seen in industrial settings, uninspected and OSHA invisible (in California).
Definitely some questions here that must be answered once the situation is under control. Hopefully then we will get more clarity. CA's system is too cumbersome in the paperwork area, and lax where it really counts. That is true.
That sort of thing also tracks with many modern Businesses both large and small.
Complying with Safety Regs and OSHA costs money. Money Owners/Shareholders would rather not spend.
Hence my comment on the fact that as long as it’s the Poors and Middle Class getting hurt, getting sick, and doing the dying. The people running these companies won’t care all that much and won’t change how they do things. It’s when it starts affecting other rich people who may have the resources to make their lives difficult that they start caring.
And Government largely won’t care. Because the people running these Companies pay for election campaigns.
Likely only reason California is suddenly putting the heat on. Is because they can’t afford to be seen doing nothing. Even though they willfully acknowledged they knew about problems there for years.
Exactly
Those types of facilities are all over So CA and have been on those sites for decades. The residential building later surrounded them as housing in So CA exploded everywhere. Many of these sites did not originally have residential zoning right next to them. The residential areas later encroached right next to them. So, it is not whether these companies were given permission to be built next to residential areas, the question is more why were all these new homes permitted to be built so close to these factories.
Skyrocketing Demand after WW2. Not to mention the forced diversification in the 60s and 70s. Driving more demand for suburbs. So the prospect of large sums of Money to be made. Not to mention local corruption. It’s rather effective in getting restrictive zoning laws relaxed and changed on the fly.
Plus It’s not like the people who built the development would be living there. So the chance of an accident at the Industrial facility won’t affect them at all. So why would they care? Whether there’s an accident at the facility is the problem of both the company that owns the facility and the people stupid enough to buy the houses they sold them right next to the chemical plant.
I totally agree that this is exactly what happened. It's always amazed me that people would even consider living in a home right next to an industrial area. They are under the false assumption that it must be safe or they would not let people live there... right? It is no different than people living below a dam or in a flood basin. The best protection is self protection.
Likely it wasn’t a Chemical Plant initially when the property developments went in. Which would likely change people’s risk calculation. A Fire or explosion at a Factory or storage warehouse can be a different beast than a fire or explosion at a chemical plant. With the fallout being contained largely to the factory property. Versus Chemical Gas which can spread over a large area in a matter of minutes.
Though in this case we have a fairly good idea of what the cause was already. It was GKN the company who owns an operates the plant actively not maintaining safety measures/equipment. In order to save money. With an established paper trail of citations showing it to be a consistent pattern of behavior from the Company.
They’ll probably get fucked in court if it goes that far unless they bribe the Judge
The written article makes it sound like the homes were there first.
I am familiar with the area because that is where I grew up. Those industrial areas have been there as long as I can remember, and that is a long time - back to the sixties. The actual business itself may have changed, but the industrial zones themselves have been there for decades. I moved to the area when there were still abundant agricultural areas scattered around neighborhoods. It was not the densely packed residential zones that are there today.
Illegals and builders
The builders and city officials yes. But the illegal problems in CA did not come until later. Back then, it was all about expanding the suburbs for the huge influx of people moving to CA. I lived there during that expansion boom. But it was certainly more affordable back then for average Americans to lay down roots and raise families. It became more unaffordable in the eighties. Areas started becoming more gentrified and then the illegal problem really took off. That coincided with the state's governance turning more progressive that eventually turned into the CA hell hole it is today. I witnessed it all in real time.
I finally left the state in the late 90's. It has gotten dramatically worse since then. Still have family there with many of the younger ones considering leaving and heading east - either TN or TX. I also have older members of my family where moving cross country for them, even though they would like to, is not something they can practically do at this point in their life. Pulling up stakes for them would be too difficult. If their kids and grandkids move first and get settled somewhere, then moving the elders could work.
I lived in Napa from 2014-2019 we couldn’t take and we moved to Florida. Now we have a lot of issues with the illegals, let’s see what happens.
Thank you for the complete rundown- Suspected the money angle, but wanted a fuller answer!
Thank You! You win one of my favorite APX parodies, Sweet Jesus (Made a Whip!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vg0z4aTCes