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Firefighters Still Working to Cool Garden Grove Chemical Tank

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Firefighters Still Working to Cool Garden Grove Chemical Tank

An industrial tank containing about 7,000 gallons of a highly flammable toxic chemical appears to have cracked, Southern California officials reported on Sunday. The development was interpreted as a possible sign that a catastrophic explosion or rupture might yet be averted as tens of thousands of evacuees waited to return home.

TJ McGovern, the interim fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, said in an update that firefighters conducted a “successful operation” on Saturday night to inspect the tank at a plant in Garden Grove that belongs to GKN Aerospace, a company based in the United Kingdom that manufactures aircraft components.

The container became increasingly pressurized on Thursday, heating the chemicals inside and releasing gas that could trigger an explosion. Firefighters responded, dousing the tank with copious amounts of water in an attempt to cool it. But GKN Aerospace’s team was unable to inject a neutralizing agent to reduce the chemical’s instability because of several failed valves.

“No one has ever had this situation before because the chemical is so volatile,” Chief McGovern said. He called the situation “unprecedented.”

The chemical inside the tank, methyl methacrylate, is used in the manufacture of resins and acrylic plastics, most notably plexiglass.

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According to the Environmental Protection Agency, exposure to methyl methacrylate can irritate the eyes and skin and make it difficult to breathe, among other symptoms. Birth defects have appeared in animals exposed to the chemical.

On Saturday, local fire officials said the temperature inside the tank had risen more than 20 degrees and was still rising. By Sunday, it had reached at least 100 degrees.

There is fear of a “thermal runaway,” which could further generate heat, build pressure and cause a blast, said Elias Picazo, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of California.

Alternatively, he said, a tank failure — in which the tank ruptures but does not necessarily explode — could lead to a controlled leak that could then be neutralized.

“I think the temperature within the tank has been steadily increasing and that’s indicative that the reaction is moving forward,” he said.

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It is possible, officials said on Saturday, that the increase in temperature is occurring because the liquid inside the tank is solidifying. If so, and if the tank holds, that could make a rupture less likely.

A specialized team of officials from the fire departments in Los Angeles, San Bernardino County, Orange County and Long Beach were working on alternative solutions to prevent the tank from breaching, Chief McGovern said on Sunday. He did not provide details.

In a video posted to social media on Sunday, he said the team had found a potential crack in the tank, which might relieve some of the internal pressure.

“With this new information, it could change our trajectory and our strategy to this event,” he said.

Senator Thomas J. Umberg, a state legislator who represents the area, said that “several courageous firefighters” had discovered the small crack last night at about 8:30 p.m., after approaching the tank to adjust the water being sprayed on it.

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The firefighters, he said, got close enough to the tanks to see that the internal temperature had hit at least 100 degrees, the maximum level that the gauges would register.

But no liquid was leaking from the crack, he said, which emergency responders interpreted as “a slight bit of good news.”

Mr. Picazo had said that the potential of the chemical solidifying would be an “ideal” but “unpredictable” outcome. “Then you have a lot of time to figure out what the best approach would be to open the tank and quench the remaining active material,” he said.

The fire authority said in another post that areas outside of the evacuation zone were considered “completely safe” and that daily activities could continue as normal.

​​Gov. Gavin Newsom of California declared a state of emergency in Orange County on Saturday. More than 40,000 residents in the surrounding areas are under evacuation orders, and officials have become increasingly concerned that some may be prematurely attempting to return home.

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“We have a lot of citizens displaced and, when it’s safe to do, one of the things we want to do is to get them back in their homes,” Chief McGovern said in a phone interview.

Erika Ocana, who lives about a five-minute walk from the plant, evacuated on Friday with her four children, three dogs and a cat.

“I’m just thinking, like, what about the ones that are really close to it, what about the houses, what’s going to happen?” she said.

In a video posted to Facebook, Dr. Jason Low of the South Coast Air Quality Management District detailed the air measurements being taken in the community near the facility.

On Friday, the regional agency had begun measuring pollutant levels around the evacuation zone. Dr. Low said officials were “happy to report that levels are completely normal in our measurements.”

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That agency has worked with the E.P.A. to deploy 24 monitors to continue the air measurements.

“We’re happy to report we have not seen any contaminants in those monitoring stations and we’ll continue to do that until the scene is secure,” said Harry Allen, an on-scene coordinator for the E.P.A.

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

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Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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