Garden Grove, CA - At Representative Derek Tran's urging, the Small Business Administration has issued a Disaster Declaration in response to the GKN Aerospace hazmat crisis in Garden Grove, which will provide local businesses with additional recovery resources, including low-interest disaster loans.

Beginning June 16th, small businesses and private nonprofits can visit https://lending.sba.gov or visit the Business Recovery Center at 12966 Euclid St., Garden Grove, CA 92840 to apply for a disaster assistance loan.

"When over 5,000 small businesses were forced to shut down during the Garden Grove hazmat crisis, I immediately took action to secure the relief that they deserve. Workers lost wages and businesses lost profits critical to operating expenses. I'm grateful that, at my urging, the Small Business Administration issued a disaster declaration and made funds available to support qualifying small businesses with critical expenses as they recover from the aftermath of this crisis. I will always fight for our small businesses and livelihoods that depend on them," said Representative Tran.

This disaster declaration will provide small businesses adversely affected by the hazmat crisis access to low-interest federal disaster loans. These loans can help cover working capital needs caused by the disaster, even for small businesses or private nonprofits that did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other essential expenses that could not be met because of the disaster. The deadline to apply is March 11, 2027.

On Thursday, May 21, the Orange County Fire Authority reported a leak of methyl methacrylate, a volatile and flammable chemical, from a 34,000-gallon storage tank at the GKN Aerospace plant in Garden Grove. The risk of a toxic leak or catastrophic explosion prompted over 50,000 evacuations across Garden Grove, Westminster, Buena Park, Cypress, Anaheim, and Stanton. At Representative Tran's urging, in partnership with Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on May 23, and, on May 25, President Trump signed the request for a Federal Disaster Declaration submitted by the State of California.

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