Abstract
The rumble of traffic, the drone of air conditioners, the blast of construction equipment. These are the mundane sources of noise pollution that we all experience but rarely think about. Or, if we do think about noise pollution, we don’t think of it as a central piece of federal environmental law. This Article, however, demonstrates that noise law is, or was, central to American environmental law, and it offers insights into how environmental protection and administrative governance work today.
In the 1970s, during the height of environmental activism and policymaking, lawmakers recognized noise as a serious pollutant alongside issues we continue to discuss today, such as dirty air, contaminated water, and biodiversity loss. The federal government built an impressive framework to tackle the problem, complete with science-based mandates, dynamic regulatory authority, and citizen suit provisions.
But then something remarkable happened: it quietly fell apart. Through presidential neglect and civil society inattention, the fledgling noise control system collapsed. This Article shows exactly how this happened, revealing the political and administrative forces that can make or break regulatory programs.
Three key components of noise law distinguish it from other environmental issues. First, by one line of thinking, noise pollution really isn’t “pollution” because noise waves are not tangible like particles and toxins, both of which trigger greater disgust reactions and sustain public attention. Second, Congress created fragmented control over noise governance, giving the Environmental Protection Agency supervisory authority but lodging important authorities within agencies across the federal government. Third, noise does not travel as far as many other pollutants and it does not accumulate in the environment or bodies, making it easier to escape—spatially and temporally—for those with the political and economic power to do so. This last component makes noise an especially acute example of an environmental injustice, which may also make it an especially easy problem for elites to overlook.
Ultimately, this Article demonstrates that noise law serves as a revealing case study for understanding environmental policy and administrative governance broadly. Noise law offers insights into the dynamics of regulatory decline, the politics of environmental justice, and the difficulties of structuring administrative systems for complex public problems.
Recommended Citation
Joshua U. Galperin,
Noise Law,
15
Mich. J. Env't. & Admin. L.
59
(2025).
Available at:
https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjeal/vol15/iss1/3