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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1971

To provide for aviation noise management and reduction in residential areas.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 29, 1995

Mr. ZIMMER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To provide for aviation noise management and reduction

in residential areas.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aviation Noise Limit

5 Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:

8 (1) The accurate assessment and control of

9 aviation noise impact is necessary to protect the

10 public health and welfare while increasing and im11 proving aviation capacity.
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1 (2) Airspace management without noise impact

2 assessment and moderation can have a significant

3 impact on an area distant from an airport.

4 (3) The Federal system for determining noise

5 impact at airports, which currently serves as the

6 basis of noise compatibility programs receiving Fed7 eral assistance, does not adequately protect the pub8 lic health and welfare.

9 (4) The Federal system for determining noise

10 impact at airports does not take into account the

11 characteristics of an area, including the area’s prox12 imity to an airport and the area’s non-aircraft back13 ground noise.

14 (5) The Federal system for determining noise

15 impact at airports is less restrictive than the criteria

16 used by many State and local governments, usurping

17 a zoning role normally allocated to the States.

18 (6) The Federal system for determining noise

19 impact at airports is inconsistent with the mainte20 nance of accepted interior levels of quiet for existing

21 residences and has been demonstrated unsuccessful

22 in identifying problems and predicting community

23 reaction.

24 (7) The Federal system for determining noise

25 impact at airports does not protect against signifi-
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1 cant disturbances in human activities such as sleep

2 and conversation and promotes Federal interference

3 with the constitutionally protected right to quiet en4 joyment of private property.

5 (8) Research showing that low levels of noise

6 affects human health and welfare requires changes

7 in Federal programs managing noise levels.

8 (9) Population density, background noise levels,

9 and distance from an airport are factors which af10 fect an individual’s expectations with respect to avia11 tion noise and an individual’s acceptance of aviation

12 noise.

13 (10) Changes to the noise environment of a de14 veloped and populated area should be treated dif15 ferently from changes to the noise environment of a

16 nonpopulated or industrial area.

17 SEC. 3. AVIATION NOISE LIMITS.

18 (a) REDUCTION OF AVIATION NOISE IN AREAS IN

19 THE VICINITY OF AIRPORTS.—

20 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.—The Secretary

21 shall develop a staged plan to reduce by at least 75

22 percent on or before January 1, 2001, the number

23 of individuals residing in residential areas in the vi24 cinity of an airport who are exposed to a yearly day25 night average sound level of 60 decibels or above.
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1 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the plan

2 pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall con3 sider various methods for aviation noise reduction,

4 including soundproofing, relocation incentives, use of

5 quieter aircraft, operations restrictions, and revision

6 of air routes.

7 (3) FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES.—

8 As part of the plan to be developed pursuant to

9 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall make rec10 ommendations on actions and policy changes on the

11 part of Federal departments and agencies (including

12 but not limited to the Department of Transpor13 tation) which could assist in meeting the objective

14 described in paragraph (1).

15 (4) MODIFICATION OF REGULATIONS.—The

16 Secretary shall modify regulations issued pursuant

17 to section 102 of the Aviation and Safety Noise

18 Abatement Act of 1979 to assist in meeting the ob19 jective described in paragraph (1).

20 (b) MANAGEMENT AND REDUCTION OF AVIATION

21 NOISE IN OTHER AREAS.—

22 (1) AIRSPACE TRAFFIC CHANGES.—Beginning

23 on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Admin24 istrator may make an airspace traffic change only if

25 the Administrator determines that the change will
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1 not result in an increase in aviation noise in viola2 tion of paragraph (2).

3 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A violation of any of the

4 following requirements, which apply only to residen5 tial areas that are not in the vicinity of an airport,

6 shall be considered to be a violation of this para7 graph:

8 (A) HOURLY AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL.—

9 The hourly average sound level, with combined

10 aviation and nonaviation sources, over any 1-

11 hour period may not exceed 6 decibels above the

12 background sound level for such 1-hour period.

13 (B) SINGLE EVENT MAXIMUM SOUND

14 LEVEL.—Under normal circumstances, the sin15 gle event maximum sound level—

16 (i) may not exceed 70 decibels;

17 (ii) during nighttime hours, may not

18 exceed 55 decibels; and

19 (iii) may not be more than 20 decibels

20 above the background sound level for the

21 1-hour period in which the event occurs.

22 The requirement of this subparagraph shall be

23 considered to have been met if there are no

24 more than 3 violations of the limits contained

25 in this subparagraph in a 24-hour period.
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1 (C) DAY-NIGHT AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL.—

2 If the day-night average sound level, with com3 bined aviation and nonaviation sources, exceeds

4 45 decibels, then aviation activity may not con5 tribute more than 3 decibels to such sound

6 level.

7 (3) PAST AIRSPACE TRAFFIC CHANGES.—The

8 Administrator shall review airspace traffic changes

9 made by the Administrator which continue to be

10 subject to significant complaint or controversy and

11 shall take such actions as may be necessary to en12 sure that such air traffic changes do not result in

13 increases in aviation noise which violate aviation

14 noise limits contained in paragraph (2).

15 (d) DETERMINATION OF VICINITY OF AIRPORT.—

16 (1) ALTERNATIVE BOUNDARIES.—In the event

17 that operations procedures of an airport result in a

18 ground noise distribution substantially different

19 from the geographic area defined in section 4(10),

20 an airport operator may, on or before the 180th day

21 following the date of the enactment of this Act,

22 transmit to the Secretary for approval alternative

23 boundaries of the vicinity of the airport which con24 form to the ground noise distribution of the airport;

25 except that the geographic area enclosed by such al-
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1 ternative boundaries may not include an area with

2 a day-night average sound level of less than 60 deci3 bels for the 1-year period ending on the date of the

4 enactment of this Act.

5 (2) ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY.—In the event

6 that an airspace traffic change or other action

7 makes it unfeasible or impracticable to meet the

8 sound level limits contained in subsection (b) within

9 a residential area, then such area may be added to

10 the area considered to be in the vicinity of the air11 port upon acquisition of the property or by acquisi12 tion of easements to the property by the airport op13 erator or the Secretary of Transportation.

14 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date

15 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall transmit

16 to Congress a report containing the plan to be developed

17 pursuant to subsection (a)(1), and a description of actions

18 taken with respect to airspace changes pursuant to sub19 section (b)(3), together with recommendations for appro20 priate administrative and legislative actions.

21 SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITY OF SECRETARY OF TRANSPOR22 TATION.

23 In complying with this Act, the Secretary of Trans24 portation shall assume responsibility for all non-military

25 aviation activity, within and outside controlled airspace,
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1 and shall regulate such activity to ensure compliance with

2 the requirements of this Act in normal circumstances.

3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

4 For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions

5 apply:

6 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis7 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal

8 Aviation Administration.

9 (2) AIRSPACE TRAFFIC CHANGE.—The term

10 ‘‘airspace traffic change’’ means a change in aircraft

11 flight paths, operating procedures, nature of aircraft

12 traffic, and quantity of aircraft traffic which is ap13 plicable in normal circumstances.

14 (3) AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL.—The term ‘‘aver15 age sound level’’ means the level, in decibels, of the

16 mean-square, A-weighted sound pressure during a

17 specified period, with reference to the square of the

18 standard reference sound pressure of 20

19 micropascals.

20 (4) BACKGROUND SOUND LEVEL.—The term

21 ‘‘background sound level’’ means the hourly average

22 sound level, in decibels, measured at a site rep23 resentative of a relatively quiet residential location

24 within an area (with aircraft noise contributions ex25 cluded).
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1 (5) DAY-NIGHT AVERAGE SOUND LEVEL.—The

2 term ‘‘day-night average sound level’’ means the 24-

3 hour average sound level, in decibels, for the period

4 from midnight to midnight, obtained after the addi5 tion of 10 decibels to sound levels during nighttime

6 hours.

7 (6) NIGHTTIME HOURS.—The term ‘‘nighttime

8 hours’’ means the periods between midnight and 7

9 a.m. and between 10 p.m. and midnight local time.

10 (7) NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES.—The term ‘‘nor11 mal circumstances’’ means all circumstances other

12 than unusually adverse weather and emergency cir13 cumstances.

14 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

15 the Secretary of Transportation.

16 (9) SINGLE EVENT MAXIMUM SOUND LEVEL.—

17 The term ‘‘single event maximum sound level’’

18 means the level, in decibels, of the maximum A19 weighted sound pressure during an aircraft over20 flight obtained using a standard sound level meter

21 under a slow response setting.

22 (10) VICINITY OF AN AIRPORT.—The term ‘‘vi23 cinity of an airport’’ means the geographic area sur24 rounding an airport established before the date of
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1 the enactment of this Act described nominally as fol2 lows:

3 (A) The area extending in all directions a

4 distance of 1.5 miles from each runway estab5 lished before such date of the enactment.

6 (B) The rectangular area defined by draw7 ing a straight center line a distance of 4 miles

8 from the end of each runway established before

9 such date of the enactment in the direction of

10 heaviest traffic and extending 1.5 miles per11 pendicular from the center line on each side of

12 such runway.

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