Noise regulations that serve the community

Abstract

State and local governments have adopted a variety of regulations over the past 40 years to protect the public against unreasonable noise. These regulations, which may be be qualitative in nature, may prohibit particular activities (e.g., barking dogs or loud radios) or outlaw nuisance noise in general (e.g., sounds disturbing to a resident). In addition, these regulations may be quantitative and define specific sound limits for a source at property line or community locations. The quantitative approach may typically include absolute limits that account for many factors, such as the time of day or week, the type of source and receptor, and the character of the sound; or in the case of Massachusetts, may include relative limits that account for the ambient background sound levels. A significant increase in community sound levels that is caused by a source is a useful indicator of a potential noise problem, but should this factor be considered when setting regulatory limits for individual projects? The presentation shall explore this issue and its effect on the process of siting, permitting, designing, and operating industrial facilities.