Skip to main content

Inequalities in exposure to noise

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Urban noise pollution is worst in poor and minority neighborhoods and segregated cities
Nation Oct 7, 2017 3:43 PM EDT

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/urban-noise-pollution-worst-poor-minority-neighborhoods-segregated-cities


"Most Americans think of cities as noisy places – but some parts of U.S. cities are much louder than others. Nationwide, neighborhoods with higher poverty rates and proportions of black, Hispanic and Asian residents have higher noise levels than other neighborhoods. In addition, in more racially segregated cities, living conditions are louder for everyone, regardless of their race or ethnicity..... Scientists have documented that environmental hazards, such as air pollution and hazardous waste sites, are not evenly distributed across different populations. Often socially disadvantaged groups such as racial minorities, the poor and those with lower levels of educational attainment experience the highest levels of exposure. These dual stresses can represent a double jeopardy for vulnerable populations."

By — 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toxic pollutants kill at least ten thousand annually, study says.


BY MASON INMAN, FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC NEWS
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 10, 2010

"There's a new fear of flying: You're more likely to die from exposure to toxic pollutants in airplane exhaust than in a plane crash, a new study suggests."


"In recent years, airplane crashes have killed about a thousand people annually, whereas plane emissions kill about ten thousand people each year, researchers say. Earlier studies had assumed that people were harmed only by the emissions from planes while taking off and landing. The new research is the first to give a comprehensive estimate of the number of premature deaths from all airline emissions. "We found that unregulated emissions from [planes flying] above 3,000 feet [914 meters] were responsible for most of the deaths," said study leader Steven Barrett, an aeronautical engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Airplane exhaust, like car exhaust, contains a variety of air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides."
National Transportation Noise Map
https://maps.bts.dot.gov/arcgis/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a303ff5924c9474790464cc0e9d5c9fb Road and Aviation Noise in the United States The noise map facilitates the tracking of trends in transportation-related noise, by mode, and collectively for multiple transportation modes. The data allow viewing the national picture of potential exposure to aviation and highway noise. The data also allow viewing of the potential exposure at the state or county level. The National Transportation Noise Map is an addition to the National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD), a set of nationwide geographic databases of transportation facilities, networks, and associated infrastructure available from the BTS Geospatial Data Catalog. The layers will be updated on an annual basis, and future versions of the National Transportation Noise Map are envisioned to include additional transportation noise sources, such as rail and maritime. The BTS map contains aircraft and road noise inventory data provided as web map services (WMS) for use with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), computer programs that can store, analyze, and present spatial or geographic data.

Comments

Very good article on fighting airport noise.

http://airportnoiselaw.org/organize.html

"Airport noise cannot be stopped, short of closing down an airport. But it can be mitigated. Getting to that point is an extremely complex process that has ground down many citizens who ultimately decided to "get a life" away from endless meetings with airport and FAA officials. Suing the airport for monetary damages may offer sweet revenge to some — and perhaps make noise more expensive to the airport — but it's not likely to make your community more livable.
Seasoned veterans will say that it's impossible under the present regime to even deal directly with noise as a problem because of the elaborate regulations spun by the Federal Aviation Administration. The real problem, they will tell you, is understanding these regulations well enough to be able to match wits with FAA and airport officials. Oh boy! Get a life!

What to do? You alone cannot attack airport noise -- not even with the help of your next-door neighbor. You and your community will get nowhere in mitigating airport noise to a livable level until you organize on a massive scale. If airport noise bothers only a handful of people in your community, forget it — move out. But if the lives of a significant segment of your community are disrupted by aircraft noise, you've got the potential power to do something."

AirportNoiseLaw.org

FIGHTING AIRPORT NOISE
In a conversation with a neighbor, I was asked the following question:

"has there been an uptick in the number of homes in your area that have green slime or green residue on the siding? I just received a report at my HOA that 3/4 of the homes have this problem. I've been here for over 20 yrs and this is the first time the inspections noted such a high incidence. My believe is that it's the residue from the jet fuel. Just my opinion though I have no scientific evidence.”

Look at a Press Release by – Senators Cardin and Van Hollen announcing Support for Legal Action against the FAA on Flight Noise
“As you know, more than two years ago the FAA utilized satellite technology to narrow air traffic into a beeline over residential neighborhoods and schools. Commercial aircraft traveling to and from Reagan National (DCA) and BWI Airports speed overhead at low altitudes every few minutes, shaking the walls of the homes and buildings beneath. Students can’t enjoy recess or focus on work. Residents can no longer experience peace inside their homes, and their property values have already been adversely affected. Many homeowners have observed a residue buildup on their cars, roofs, and windows. Our constituents have frequently expressed concern that neither the cumulative sound nor particulate matter produced by perpetual jet engines was adequately studied for adverse health risks by the FAA before imposing flight corridors over their communities.”

I have noticed a black residue on siding and driveways in my community.

Popular Posts

Who to Contact if You're Impacted by Aircraft Noise

Contact numbers and emails for Maryland politicians Van Hollen 111 Rockville Pike Suite 960 Rockville, MD 20850 Brent Girard (Constituent Services and Community Outreach, Van Hollen) Brent_girard@vanhollen.senate.gov 667-212-4610 Ben Cardin 100 S. Charles St. Tower 1, Suite 1710 Baltimore, MD 21201 Heather_campbell@cardin.senate.gov 410-962-4436 Shannon Frede (Legislative Assistant, Cardin) Shannon_frede@cardin.senate.gov 202-224-4524 Steny Hoyer US District Court House 6500 Cherrywood Ln. Suite 310 Greenbelt, MD 20770 Sana Mirza (Hoyer) 301-474-0119 Noise from Aircraft Operations at Your Community Airport Airport noise issues and concerns should first be addressed with the local airport manager or staff who respond to airport noise issues. Check your local telephone directory for airport telephone numbers. Many airports also have their noise abatement information and contact information published on their website. If you believe the airplanes were flying unsafely...

The Cornerstones of Energy Resilience

  The Cornerstones of Energy Resilience Achieving energy resilience is a multi-faceted endeavor built on several key principles: Robustness: Hardening energy infrastructure to withstand physical damage. This can include elevating substations in flood-prone areas, burying power lines to protect them from high winds, and using stronger materials for utility poles. Redundancy: Having backup systems in place. This can range from individual homeowners having portable generators to hospitals having sophisticated uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). Resourcefulness and Diversity: Utilizing a variety of energy sources to avoid over-reliance on a single fuel or technology. A diverse energy portfolio, including renewables like solar and wind, alongside traditional sources, can provide more flexibility during a crisis. Flexibility and Adaptability: The ability to reconfigure energy systems in real-time to respond to changing conditions. Smart grids and advanced control technologies can a...

Energy Resilient:

What it Means to be Energy Resilient: Preparing for and Bouncing Back from Power Disruptions Energy resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to energy disruptions, as well as the capacity to rapidly recover from them. In an era of increasing extreme weather events, cybersecurity threats, and an aging electrical grid, the concept has become a critical priority for communities, businesses, and governments worldwide. It's about ensuring a reliable and continuous supply of energy to power our essential services and daily lives, even when the unexpected happens. While often used interchangeably, energy resilience is distinct from energy reliability. Reliability refers to the day-to-day consistency of the power supply under normal conditions—preventing routine outages. Resilience, on the other hand, is about withstanding and recovering from major, often unforeseen, events like hurricanes, wildfires, cyberattacks, or physical attacks on infrastructure.

(CNN)Air pollution is deadly:

(CNN) Air pollution is deadly: A new study links exposure to it to more than 107,000 premature deaths in the United States in 2011. It isn't just killing us; it cost the country $866 billion, more than double the value of all the economic activity in a country  like Ireland,  according to the study, published Monday in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Particulate matter, or particle pollution, is the mix of solid and liquid droplets floating in the air, according to the  Environmental Protection Agency.  It can come in the form of dirt, dust, soot or smoke.   Particulate pollution comes from coal- and natural gas-fired plants. Cars, agriculture, unpaved roads, construction sites and wildfires can also create it. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/health/particle-pollution-study/index.html