IRVINE : New Environmental Chief Settles In Well

As the city’s new “environmental administrator,” deals with chemicals that have names 18 letters long. But in his first weeks on the job, he seems to have made progress in dealing with a far more intricate situation: Irvine politics.

In fact, in his first few weeks on the job, he has managed to find favor with at least two of the city’s primary political forces--no easy task in a city with an upcoming election.

Irvine Mayor Larry Agran, who championed passage of the city’s new ordinance banning chloroflurocarbons, said he is impressed with Brown’s record of scholarship and publication.

“He’s sure to put us in the lead as far as air quality and water quality,” Agran predicted.

Sally Anne Sheridan, Agran’s opponent in the mayoral election, said she voted against the ordinance because it seemed to be hastily implemented. But of Brown, she said: “He’s terribly qualified . . . the program is one of educating the community. I think that’s the role I see him in.”

But Brown, 37, talks about using diplomacy rather than politics to convince business leaders that complying with the new law does not necessarily mean losing money or complicating their lives.

“I’m not interested in being perceived as someone who walks around with a baseball bat,” he said.

The city passed the ordinance last year, affecting businesses that use or produce CFCs, Halon or other substances that are believed to contribute to the depletion of the earth’s ozone layer. The ordinance covers the electronics industry, installers of insulation and the manufacturers of fast-food packaging. It is considered one of the most sweeping ordinances of its kind in the nation.

At the time it passed, Brown was working in Massachusetts in the office of Safe Waste Management. Peter O’Neil, the director of information at the Department of Environmental Management in Boston, said that Brown bucked the theory that says environmental issues and business interests never coincide.

“Michael has helped businesses to stay in business, be productive and not pollute the environment,” O’Neil said. He cited Brown’s work at Robbins Co. Inc., an Attleboro, Mass., jewelry firm that reduced its chemical use by 82% and its use of water from 500,000 gallons per week to 500.

As he tried to settle into an office decorated with two plastic plants and an old flyer warning about the dangers of toxic waste, Brown described his new job as a continuation of his old one--helping businesses make pollution laws work.

“I think the ordinance is very important because it says to the people of Irvine, of the nation and, indeed, the world: ‘Look, we don’t have to wait on this issue,’ ” he said. “I think this ordinance will show that the business community in Irvine can get a head-start on what’s inevitable . . . I think everyone knows CFCs are going to disappear from commerce.”

Brown holds a master’s degree and a doctorate from Cornell and a degree in politics from UC Santa Cruz.

He plans to conduct workshops, to tour plants and provide information to businesses for now. When the ordinance goes into effect in July, Brown plans to enforce it.

“Somebody has to be first,” Brown said. “I think we can show it can be done.”