IRVINE : City to Repeal Its Landmark Ozone Law

The first city in the nation to pass an ordinance limiting the release of chemicals that deplete the Earth’s protective ozone layer plans to repeal the 6-year-old ordinance today.

City Council members say that strong state and federal regulations limiting the release of the ozone-eating chlorofluorocarbons, known as CFCs, negate the need for a local ordinance.

“It really doesn’t make any sense to keep this ordinance in place and charge fees to local businesses to duplicate a regulation that is already enforced by state and federal agencies,” Councilman Greg Smith said. “The newer regulations are stricter than our city ordinance.”

If the council repeals the law, that action would come one month after UC Irvine scientist Sherwood Rowland received a Nobel prize for his pioneering research on how manufactured compounds were damaging the ozone layer. Rowland’s research led to worldwide restrictions on the emission of CFCs.

Councilwoman Paula Werner, the only current City Council member who was in office when the ordinance was passed in July, 1989, said it was a courageous step for the city.

The ordinance, championed by former Mayor Larry Agran, “was very controversial at the time, and it was challenged by many people, especially in the business community, as being an onerous restriction,” Werner said. “That proved not to be true. It turned out to be good for the residents and the business community.”

Werner said the ordinance led to innovations in waste disposal that actually saved money for local businesses.