"More than 40 years have passed since EPA’s noise regulation program was silenced by a Reagan-era rollback.
It’s time to start again, in the view of an advocacy group that accuses the agency of turning its back on a major peril.
In a slowly escalating campaign that includes meetings with top EPA appointees and a recent lawsuit threat, Massachusetts-based Quiet Communities Inc. aims to revive what was once a bedrock function of the Office of Air and Radiation. Should the group prevail, it would mark a rare, if not unprecedented, achievement in pushing the agency back into a previously abandoned regulatory sphere.
“The science shows the health of more than 100 million Americans is at risk from exposure to excessive noise — for hearing damage, cardiovascular disease, psychological disorders, and other serious adverse health impacts,” the group wrote in a March letter officially notifying EPA of its plans to sue. "
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