Noise Variance:Noise and Light Pollution effects
City of Eugene Noise Variance Appeal Hearing
Weds 5/8/96
Just the facts
A short literature summary of the effects of low levels of noise and light
Submitted By James P. Reed, PhD
The noise variance granted to Hyundai for nightime construction of their semiconductor
plant negatively impacts the public and animals due to not only noise pollution but
also light pollution in the Willow Creek Area of west Eugene.
The following summary is based on a literature search done at U of O Science Library
on the First Search Environmental Data base using the terms noise pollution and noise
effects.
The World Health Organization has shown noise along with air and water to be the three
most dangerous pollutants.
Alexandre, A .1991. OECD Abstr 164:23-26, reported that noise in the range of 60-80
dBA is one of the main causes of the declining quality of life.
(60 dBA is ordinary speech, an air conditioner at 20', 80 dBA is alarm clock, hair
dryer from Boyd. 1993. Noise and your Health, Taterhill Press, San Fran.)
Shapiro. 1993. Sci Tech 9(3):73-79 reports that noise pollution leads to physical
and psychological problems. It's annoying and detracts from environmental ambiance
that many desire.
Congress passed the Noise Control Act in 1972. It was regulated by the EPA and OSHA.
But politics intervened. With the advent of the Reagan Administration, funding was
withdrawn and the Office of Noise abatement closed. Over one thousand state and local
noise pollution programs were closed so that there were only 15 left. OSHA relaxed
its enforcement, such that by 1987 only 191 citations were issued for noise violations.
These laws are still on the books (Boyd 1993). Shapiro states that now is the time
to rejuvenate and redirect the modest Federal effort that once showed promise in controlling
environmental noise.
Oehrstoem, et al.'s paper on the Effects of Noise during Sleep was presented at
the 1988 International Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem and published
in 1990 Environ. Int. 16:477-482. This study found a threshold for effects on sleep
quality to occur around 10 events per night at the 60 dBA level. At the 50 dBA (rainfall)
level a significant decrease in sleep quality occurred at 64 events per night. They
observed physiological effects on heart rate and body movements as correlated with
noise effects. Even after a study period of two weeks, the subjects were not habituated
to noise.
Boyd (1993) reports that people's sleep is disturbed even without waking them up,
as noise prevents them from entering the REM sleep, that is so necessary for real
rest.
Bronzaft. as reported in the 1989. Abstr of Annual Meeting of Air and Waste Management
Assoc. found that unwanted sounds at low levels lead to heightened stress and if
the sounds are sustained it will lead to cardiovascular problems and ulcers as well
as interfering with fetal development.
Duncan, R. C. 1993. in his paper on the Effect of chronic noise on the rate of hypertension:
a meta analysis. Environ Int 19(4):359-369, did a critical review of the past 15
years of data on the effects of noise on human health. He found that hypertension
was positively correlated with chronic ambient noise . He concluded that noise may
be one of the most important environmental factors being neglected in the political
arena.
From Boyd 1993. Noise and Your Health: official standards for permissible levels of
noise at work assume that the worker has 16 hours of relative quiet in which to recuperate
from job noise.
Granting the noise variance will add to the sound stress load of residents.
From the book, Noise the New Menace, 1975 by Lucy Kavaler: today's anti-noise regulations
are derived from old English common law where in the 1600's a British chief justice
ruled that the rights of habitation are superior to the rights of trade, and wherever they conflict, the rights of trade must yield to the primary or natural rights.
Kavaler goes on to report, p 86, that with respect to the Noise Control Act, "Congress
intends that the resonalbleness of the cost of a regulation or standard be judged
in relation to the purpose of this act, which is to protect public health"...
Effects of Light.
Along with the noise variance goes implicit permission to flood the area with bright
lights.
An excellent 1993 review by Reiter in Experientia 49:654-664 explains how circadian
rhythms and reproductive cycles are impaired by artificial light at night. Light
at night disrupts melatonin production. Melatonin and its derivatives are present
in all animals from algae to humans. Normally-nocturnally active animals are the most sensitive
to this light. For mammals, including humans, melatonin concentrations drop to half
maximum value within 10 minutes of a short acute exposure to light. In animals, melatonin imparts important time of day information and seasonally, it controls reproductive
behavior.
In humans, melatonin, among its many other functions, has been shown to be an anti-stress
and sleep producing agent . Melatonin is used to synchronize disrupted rhythms such
as jet lag. Melatonin plays an important part in the psychological depression associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder . In this case, bright lights in the morning
are used to readjust the melatonin cycle back to 24 hours. Midnight levels of melatonin
in schizophrenics are characteristically low.
I don't know about frogs, but planaria, which are much lower on the evolutionary
tree, will not reproduce by fission in the presence of continuous light.
This has implications for potential disruption of at least portions of the food web
cylcle in the wetlands that are onsite and at the nearby Nature Conservancy Lands.
For these any many other reasons, I ask that you not grant a noise variance.
James P Reed, PhD
1732 Long Island Dr
Eugene OR 97401
(541)687-1924