32 C.F.R. Subpart G—Environmental Noise Abatement
Title 32 - National Defense
The provisions contained in this chapter implement the provisions of the Noise Control Act of 1972 (Pub. L. 92–574) and Federal Regulations promulgated pursuant to this Act, including Executive Order 11752, Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-106, and EPA procedures for Reporting Proposed Pollution Abatement Projects For Federal Facilities. The Department of the Army (DA) goal is to control noise produced by Army activities to protect the health and welfare of its members and the public within, adjacent to, and surrounding Army installations. The following objectives are necessary to achieve this goal: (a) Assess the environmental impact of noise produced by Army activities and mitigate harmful or objectionable effects to the maximum extent practicable. (b) Comply with applicable Federal, State, interstate and local standards pertaining to noise, consistent with military requirements. (c) Achieve noise abatement through the application of engineering noise reduction procedures, administrative noise control measures, modern land use planning and procurement of less noisy equipment. (d) Incorporate noise control provisions, consistent with national security requirements, into the development and procurement of weapons systems and other military equipment for use in combat operations; and in the design and siting of facilities. (a) Administrative noise control measures. Policy decisions and administrative actions taken to regulate the conduct of training, operations and activities for the purpose of relocating, rescheduling, or restricting activity to abate or control noise; e.g., decisions on the time of day, site, and number of operations, firing schedules, flight patterns, etc. (b) Ambient noise. The all encompassing noise associated with a given environment, usually composite of sounds from many sources. (c) Decibel (dB). Unit of measure indicating the sound pressure level of a measured sound. dBA indicates that the sound level is measured through the A-weighting network of a sound level meter. (d) Engineering noise reduction. Control of noise at the source, path or receptor site through use of acoustical engineering techniques. Among other techniques, this involves enclosures, absorbent materials, and barriers. (e) Environmental noise. The intensity, duration, and character of sounds from all sources. (f) Impulsive noise (also referred to as impulse or impact noise). Noise with abrupt onset, high intensity, short duration—typically less than one second. This type of noise can be produced by weapons fire, explosions, punch presses, and drop hammers, and consists of a short burst of acoustical energy of either a single impulse or a series of impulses. (g) Land use planning. That aspect of master planning wherein the best possible use is made of available land areas by considering, among other factors, mission and environmental protection requirements. (h) Noise control management. The abatement of noise through use of low-noise-emission products, engineering noise reduction, or administrative noise control measures. (i) Noise pollution control standards. Noise emission standards for products adopted in accordance with provisions of the Noise Control Act of 1972 or provisions of State, interstate, and local standards for control and abatement of environmental noise. The Department of the Army will— (a) Comply with all DOD and applicable Federal, State and local noise control standards promulgated pursuant to the Noise Control Act in the planning, siting, design, construction and operation of Army controlled facilities and installations. The aim is to promote an environment for all people free from noise that jeopardizes their health and welfare. (b) Procure commercial equipment and products, or those adapted for military use, that are in compliance with established Federal noise standards and give priority to use of low-noise-emission products within reasonable cost and mission limitations. (c) Incorporate noise control provisions in the design and procurement of vehicles, aircraft, weapons systems and other military-unique equipment for use in combat operations to the extent that essential operational capabilities are not significantly impaired. (d) Include the impact of environmental noise in any assessment of an Army action or program. (e) Institute measures to reduce and/or control the generation of noise from flying and flying-related activities and comply with DOD Instruction 4165.57 on Air Installations Compatible Use Zones (AICUZ). (f) Periodically monitor Army installations and their environs to insure that applicable Federal, State, interstate and local noise standards are met. (a) Department of the Army Staff. (1) The Chief of Engineers will— (i) Promulgate basic policies, guidance and regulations for the control of environmental noise produced by military equipment (aircraft, vehicles, etc.), and that resulting from the conduct of various types of military training activities (DAEN-ZCE). (ii) Monitor the structural engineering aspects of the environmental noise pollution control program to assure that facilities on Army real property satisfies established noise control standards (DAEN-MC). (iii) Provide guidelines and assistance for the selection of architectural and engineering measures to be employed, to control noise levels in conjunction with installation master planning or the siting of new facilities (e.g., siting considerations, noise barriers or berms, operational controls, and sound attenuation in new and existing structures) (DAEN-MC). (iv) Coordinate noise abatement criteria, standards, policies, and corrective measures with The Surgeon General, and The Inspector General and Auditor General, (Army Director of Safety). (v) Incorporate noise attenuation measures in the design and construction of new structures and provide technical assistance on noise attenuation techniques for existing structures (DAEN-MC). (2) The Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans will— (i) Monitor operations and activities to assure control of noise produced by military equipment, aircraft, and vehicles, resulting from the conduct of various types of military training activities. (ii) Ensure compliance with appropriate noise standards during test and evaluation of Army material and during operational testing. (3) The Deputy Chief of Staff for Research, Development and Acquisition will— (i) Monitor compliance with applicable noise control standards during the development and testing of new material. (ii) Process and staff requests for exemptions (§650.175) for military unique equipment where essential operational characteristics are significantly impaired by adherence to applicable noise standards, and where the equipment is deemed essential to mission accomplishment. (4) The Surgeon General will— (i) Monitor health and welfare aspects of environmental noise within the Department of the Army to assure that the required degree of noise control is maintained. (ii) Issue health and medical policy guidance obtained from liaison with other Federal agencies assigned responsibility for environmental noise control. (iii) Coordinate in the development of noise abatement criteria, standards and corrective measures with the Chief of Engineers and when appropriate with Director of Safety, HQDA. (b) Commanding General, US Army Health Services Command will— (1) Accumulate, evaluate, and disseminate data on environmental noise conditions that may adversely affect the health of men and animals. (2) Conduct environmental noise studies when requested, provide acoustical technical assistance for preparation of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) or Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and make recommendations on programs or projects to achieve noise pollution control. (3) Provide technical consultation to commanders on health aspects of environmental noise control and assist in the development of environmental noise abatement programs for facilities and activities. (c) Commanding General, US Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command and other materiel development and procurement agencies will— (1) Procure equipment or materiel which complies with DA adopted noise emission standards and retrofit existing vehicles as appropriate, to reduce noise to acceptable levels. (2) Initiate and forward requests for waiver of noise standards for military equipment to DAEN-ZCE when it has been determined that compliance with such standards would significantly degrade the required military capability of the equipment. (3) Pursue a research and development, test and evaluation program for the abatement or control of noise from military equipment. (d) Major Army commanders will— (1) Comply with applicable Federal, State, interstate, and local standards regarding environmental noise control and abatement. (2) Establish a program for an initial survey and periodic review of environmental noise control. (3) Program and budget for those resources required for environmental noise control. (4) Report resource requirements for the conduct of the noise pollution control program in accordance with subpart J of this part. (e) Installation and activity commanders will— (1) Comply with applicable Federal, State, interstate, and local standards regarding environmental noise. (2) Identify continuous or recurring sources of noise at an installation or by an activity which exceed standards; are an annoyance to others; are injurious to health; and develop remedial projects or procedures to reduce such noise to acceptable levels. (3) Monitor the conduct of training activities producing inherently high noise levels for the purpose of minimizing its effect on nearby military and civilian populations. (4) Maintain liaison with appropriate Federal, State, and local noise pollution abatement authorities, for the purpose of noise control measures insofar as installation and military operational requirements permit in accordance with subpart A of this part. (5) Program and budget for resources necessary to conduct an effective noise control program. (6) Maintain a log of citizen complaints of noise produced by Army activities. Sources of noise pollution will be identified and those requiring remedial action will be reported as specified in subpart J of this part. An example of an exhibit prepared on a typical environmental noise control project is shown in figure 10–7. See table 7–1, for related publications to be used in conjunction with this subpart.
Title 32: National Defense
PART 650—ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND ENHANCEMENT (AR 200–1)
Subpart G—Environmental Noise Abatement
General
§ 650.161 Purpose.
§ 650.162 Goal and objectives.
§ 650.163 Explanation of terms.
§ 650.164 Policies.
§ 650.165 Responsibilities.
§ 650.166 Reports.
§ 650.167 References.
Standards and Procedures
§ 650.168 Standards.
(a) Undue exposure to noise may be detrimental to the health and welfare of Department of the Army personnel and members of civilian communities adjacent to military installations. Consequently it is necessary to assess major sources of noise to ensure there are no adverse impacts. Normally this is accomplished by making sound level measurements and comparing them to established noise standards which include:
(1) Occupational noise level standards—a noise exposure standard established for the protection of hearing of workers by the Army Surgeon General and/or under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
(2) Product noise source emission standards—maximum noise levels that may be produced by specified items of equipment under the authority of the Noise Control Act or State, interstate and local standards.
(3) Environmental noise standards—property use and/or operational noise levels that are permitted under those conditions specified in Federal, State, interstate and local standards and regulations.
(b) Occupational noise level standards applicable to the Army are contained in AR 40–5, AR 385–10, TB MED 251 and MIL-STD-1474(MI).
(c) Product noise emission standards are published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Army materiel excluded from compliance with such emission standards at the time of manufacture are aircraft, vehicles, weapons systems and other products produced for combat use. Commercially manufactured products or those adapted for general military use will comply with the following Federal noise standards:
(1) Commercial Aircraft—14 CFR parts 21, 36 and 91.
(2) Motor Carrier Noise Emission Standards—40 CFR part 202 and 23 CFR part 772. (Section 18 of Noise Control Act only.)
(3) Motors and Engines—40 CFR part 206.
(4) Railroad Noise Emission Standards—40 CFR part 201.
(5) Construction Equipment—40 CFR part 204.
(6) Transportation Equipment—40 CFR part 205.
(d) MIL-STD-1474(MI), Noise Limits for Army Materiel, establishes acoustical noise limits for Army materiel and prescribes the testing requirements and measurement techniques for determining conformance to the noise limits therein.
(e) Environmental noise will be assessed and controlled in accordance with the provisions set forth herein.
§ 650.169 Noise measurement standards.
(a) Noise pollution control standards are applicable to both existing and new Army facilities.
(b) Army facilities and activities will comply with applicable Federal, State, interstate and local noise standards unless a waiver is specifically obtained in accordance with §650.175. Where no applicable noise regulations and standards exist, installation commanders will minimize noise intrusions into areas surrounding the installations to prevent them from being a source of complaint. An EPA manual that provides general guidance in the absence of specific standards is listed in 15, table 7–1.
(c) Measurements in decibels (dBA) should be used for measuring continuous sound levels from Army activities or facilities. For impulse noise such as weapons firing and explosives, the EPA has recommended dBC.
(d) Environmental noise levels should be identified using an equivalent sound level description system known as Leq/Ldn. This new methodology supplements and replaces earlier techniques such as Composite Noise Ratings (CNR) and Noise Exposure Forecast (NEF). The basic reference is EPA Document 550/9–74–004, “Information on Levels of Environmental Noise Requisite to Protect Public Health and Welfare with an Adequate Margin of Safety,” March 1974. It is available from the U.S. Government Printing Office. Use will be made of this descriptor system in discussing noise implications in all Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS). Other rating schemes may be used, but should be related to Leq/Ldn. Ldn is recommended by EPA for blast impulse noise on an interim basis pending further research and study.
§ 650.170 Assessment of noise.
The impact of environmental noise whose source is located on Army-controlled property will be included in an EIA or an EIS of any Army proposed action. Analyses of such significant sources of environmental noise as airfields and firing ranges should be based on field measurements by acoustical technicians.
(a) Technical assistance on land use management or real property associated noise problems (e.g., blast noise, etc.) can be obtained from U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), P.O. Box 4005, Champaign, IL 61820. A helpful reference on this matter is the CERL document: “User Manual for the Acquisition and Evaluation of Operational Blast Noise Data,” Technical Report E–42 CERL, June 1974 (NTIS), see table 7–1).
(b) Technical assistance to include field surveys and the preparation of environmental noise pollution evaluations relating to health and welfare considerations of all types of environmental noise problems can be provided by the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency. Requests for assistance should be sent to Commander, U.S. Army Health Services Command (HSC-PA), Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234. This assistance includes—
(1) The evaluation of existing or potential noise problems which are evidenced by complaints, litigation, or official inquiries;
(2) The assessment of those situations where existing or proposed civilian-community actions may adversely impact noise-sensitive areas located on Army installations;
(3) The assessment of those situations where a proposed civilian community action may be adversely impacted from an ongoing Army activity;
(4) The recommendation of measures to mitigate an existing or potential adverse noise impact;
(5) The evaluation of Department of the Army activities to ensure that they comply with applicable noise standards and regulations; and
(6) The conduct of environmental noise assessments as input to EIS's excluding all projects involving land management and acquisition.
(c) Technical assistance, such as information and technical documents, is also available from the EPA. Inquiries may be sent directly to EPA Office of Noise Abatement & Control, Washington, DC 20460, or to the noise representative in the respective EPA Region (see fig. 9–1 and table 9–3).
§ 650.171 Noise sources.
Common sources of environmental noise produced by military activities that may require some form of noise control include—
(a) Aircraft operations and training.
(b) Vehicles (combat and noncombat) operations and training.
(c) Weapons firing, explosives and demolition operations and training (blast noise, §650.169(d)).
(d) Fixed noise sources (power plants and generators, manufacturing plants, industrial facilities, carpenter shops, dynamometer buildings etc.)
(e) Electrical and electronic equipment.
(f) Construction equipment operations and training.
(g) Recreational activities (e.g., snowmobiles, trailbikes, etc.)
(h) All other noise sources that exceed 55 dBA measured at a distance of 50 feet from the source.
§ 650.172 Noise control.
(a) Control of new and existing sources of environmental noise can normally be achieved by applying singly or in combination noise reduction at the source, altering the path of noise, and noise reduction at the receptor site. Further, low-noise-emission products and equipment will be acquired wherever possible.
(b) Engineering noise controls, establishment of noise buffer zones, site design and building construction for noise control, and similar land use planning techniques will be employed in the siting and design of new military structures and facilities.
(c) Projects and resources required to control sources of environmental noise, reported in accordance with §650.166, will be programed and budgeted using established procedures.
(d) To preclude the need for expensive engineering noise reduction techniques, the impact of environmental noise should be integrated into military land use planning. Attention will be given such matters in the master planning process (AR 210–20) with particular emphasis on—
(1) Routes of high volume traffic flow.
(2) Family housing area locations.
(3) Location of off-post residential areas.
(4) Sites of hospital complexes.
(5) Sites for on-post and off-post school facilities.
(6) Sites for new ranges, impact areas and airfields.
(e) The identification of critical noise rating contours at an installation for the purpose of aiding in land use planning will be a required component of each installation master plan (AR 210–20). Assistance in preparing data for these contours can be obtained through the Office Chief of Engineers (DAEN-MCE-P) and Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL). Requests for such assistance are to be forwarded in accordance with reference CERL Technical Report E–42, table 7–1. Blast noise, helicopter noise and truck noise programs are under development and OCE will issue Technical Reports in each area.
(f) Technical assistance in quantifying noise problems, identifying possible violation of standards, making noise surveys for inclusion in environmental impact assessments or impact statements, etc., may be requested from the US Army Environmental Hygiene Agency (USA-EHA) in accordance with §650.170(b).
§ 650.173 Noise complaints.
While not to be used as the sole criterion for judging the severity of environmental noise impacts, citizen complaints may be indicators of situations where noise control measures will be necessary. Such complaints should be logged, investigated, and appropriate corrective measures taken wherever possible. In many instances, such problems can be resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the Army and the community through direct consultation among those involved.
§ 650.174 Low-noise-emission products.
Under section 15 of the Noise Control Act of 1972 (Pub. L. 92–574), the US Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for administering a national program for the development of low-noise-emission products. EPA certifies new products whose noise emissions are significantly below the EPA source emission standards for these products as low-noise-emission products. Such certified products of a commercial nature will be acquired by purchase by the Army in lieu of other products if the Administrator of General Services determines that the product costs no more than 125 percent of the retail price of the least expensive type of product for which these are certified substitutes. Those products found to meet the low-noise-emission criteria will be announced as available through regular supply procurement sources (40 CFR part 203 and Noise Control Act of 1972, section 15).
§ 650.175 Waivers and exemptions from noise standards.
Requests for exemption or waiver of a Federal or State noise standard will be forwarded through channels to HQDA (DAEN-ZCE) WASH DC 20310 who will take appropriate action to obtain OSD approval. Waivers will be requested for the specified period of time (normally one year) needed to permit compliance. Exemptions must be fully justified on the basis of mission accomplishment and military necessity.
Table 7–1—Related Publications Executive Order 11514, Protection and Enhancement of Environmental Quality, March 7, 1970 (35 FR 4247). Executive Order 11752, Prevention, Control, and Abatement of Environmental Pollution at Federal Facilities, December 19, 1973 (38 FR 243). DOD Instruction 4165.57, Air Installation Compatible Use Zones, July 30, 1973. Noise Control Act of 1972, Pub. L. 92–574 (86 Stat. 1248). Amendment to the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to require Aircraft Noise Abatement (Pub. L. 90–411). AR 40–5 Health and Environment. AR 210–20 Master Planning for Permanent Army Installations. AR 385–10 Army Safety Program. AR 750–20 Prevention, Control, and Abatement of Pollution from Mobile Equipment. TB MED 251 Noise and Conservation of Hearing. MIL-STD 1474 (MI), Noise Limits for Army Material. User Manual for the Acquisition and Evaluation of Operational Blast Noise Data, Technical Report E-42, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, June 1974. Available under AD No. 782–911/2G1 from National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, VA 22151. Predicting Community Response to Blast Noise, Technical Report E-17, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, December 1973. Available under AD No. 773–690 from NTIS, Springfield, VA 22151. HUD Dept. Circular 1390.2, Noise Abatement and Control: Department Policy, Implementation Responsibilities, and Standards. EPA Document #6E 550/9–74–004, Information on Levels of Environmental Noise Requisite to Protect Public Health and Welfare with an Adequate Margin of Safety (March 1974).
