Why Isn’t the City on the Residents’ Side in North Irvine?
For more than four years, the national non-profit Non-Toxic Neighborhoods (NTN) and an Irvine resident-led organization Stop Toxic Air Pollutants (STAP) have been fighting for air safe to breathe for north Irvine residents from what the South Coast Air Quality District says is the largest polluter of carcinogens in Orange County — the All American Asphalt plant.
So, why is Irvine allowing a non-compliant polluter to continue to operate within Irvine's city limits?
To discuss the matter, I sat down with Irvine City Councilmember Larry Agran.
Councilman Agran is a Harvard-educated public interest attorney who served as Chief Legal Counsel for the California State Senate Health Committee and later wrote a book, The Cancer Connection, which includes two chapters on a very similar situation where residents were exposed to industrial carcinogens.