Representative Tran Urges SBA to Issue Disaster Declaration and Expedite Small Business Loans in Response to Garden Grove Western Incident
Garden Grove, CA – U.S. Representative Derek Tran (CA-45) sent a letter to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler urging the SBA to issue its own disaster declaration and expedite small business loan processing in the wake of the toxic chemical incident at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove, California, known as the "Western Incident."
Read the full letter HERE.
On May 26, 2026, Rep. Derek Tran sent a letter to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler that read:
On May 21, 2026, a toxic chemical incident occurred at the GKN Aerospace Facility located in Garden Grove, California. While emergency personnel have been working diligently to mitigate the incident, the crisis remains unresolved as of today and there is still an imminent threat of a toxic chemical leakage or explosion. This highly volatile situation has forced the evacuation of approximately 50,000 residents and many businesses over the holiday weekend due to the chemical’s extreme flammability and acute risks to public health. It remains unclear how long the remaining 17,000 evacuees will remain displaced as the normal work week resumes. This incident was given a Federal Emergency Declaration on May 25, 2026. I now urge the Small Business Administration to make its own declaration and ask for expeditious and efficient processing of small business loans to address the economic damage. This recovery will take time and will likely need federal support. As it is requested, I ask for your full and fair consideration of small business loans to address the damage caused by the incident.
During a declared disaster, SBA may provide low-interest disaster loan options to help homeowners and businesses recover and continue operations. Under current law, SBA may only provide Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and physical damage loans when it issues its own determination of a declared disaster. As of today, SBA has not yet declared the ‘Western Incident’ a disaster area under its definition.
The hazmat incident forced the evacuation of approximately 50,000 residents and 5,000 businesses over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. At Tran’s urging, the incident received a Federal Emergency Declaration on May 25, 2026. Tran is now calling on the SBA to take action to ensure that small businesses impacted by the ongoing crisis can access the federal resources they need to be made whole.
"During this crisis, an estimated 5,000 businesses were forced to shut down, resulting in lost profits that otherwise would have been made during a long holiday weekend,” said Representative Tran. "I’m pushing for the SBA to formally declare a disaster declaration so our small business owners can successfully apply for assistance and protect the livelihoods that depend on them.”
Representative Tran is working to support local, state, and federal authorities to ensure that every available resource is deployed to assist the affected community.
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.
On Tuesday, May 26, Tran welcomed affected families from across Orange County to a community meeting to answer questions about the disaster and provide resources for residents to address the displacement and financial burden they endured because of the Western Incident. Now that the immediate threat has cleared, Representative Tran will continue monitoring all possible accountability measures to ensure that residents are made whole and an incident like this never happens again.
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Congressman Derek Tran represents California’s 45th Congressional District. Serving his first term in Congress, Congressman Tran is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and House Small Business Committee, where he is Ranking Member of the Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations Subcommittee. Congressman Tran is the son of Vietnamese refugees, a Veteran, and fought for consumers as an attorney before entering Congress.