During last night’s meeting, incorporating four proposals Councilmember Agran introduced, the Irvine City Council initiated stricter scrutiny of All American Asphalt. These directed staff  

1. To continue settlement discussions with All American Asphalt, with the goal of obtaining near-term protections for Irvine residents and the plant’s relocation as soon as possible

2. To hire special counsel and direct them to ask a court for “preliminary and permanent abatement,” meaning an end to toxic emissions, from All American Asphalt (to which the City Council added that this counsel should be independent)

3. To outline the steps necessary to legally buy the property and convert it to public use (legally termed “condemnation”)

4. To analyze the City’s ability to create local air pollution standards and put caps on the emission of harmful chemicals in the City

The City Attorney will report a first update on the settlement, the hiring of special counsel, and condemnation next Tuesday, July 26, at the next City Council meeting. The City Council will have a discussion on local air pollution standards next meeting, too.

At the meeting, Councilmember Agran called All American Asphalt “a bad actor” and thanked the residents in the most-affected neighborhoods for eliciting action and support from the City Council:

“There is causation between that plant’s operations and the public health danger, risk and threat to the people of north Irvine and beyond. This is an urgent situation, and…I thank the residents for their testimony.”

On July 20, you can review the July 26 City Council agenda, and email LarryAgran@cityofirvine.org if you have questions about participating in a public discussion.

To learn more about All American Asphalt and its presence in Irvine, review other news releases from the Office of Councilmember Larry Agran.