MONDAY, JULY 12, 1971 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, The subcommittee met at 9:05 a.m., in room 5110, New Senate Office Building, Hon. Howard W. Cannon (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Cannon and Moss. OPENING STATEMENT OF THE CHAIRMAN Senator CANNON. The hearings will come to order. Today's hearing concerns the broad question of aircraft noise; its impact on the environment; and how to reduce and control it. In particular, the subcommittee is interested in hearing testimony on two legislative proposals regarding aircraft noise now pending. First is S. 1016, the administration's proposal dealing with noise control in general. The administration's bill is pending before the Subcommittee on Environment which has heard testimony already. However, one section of that bill specifically deals with aircraft noise. and amends the Federal Aviation Act by establishing new authority to set noise standards for aircraft. Specifically, the administration's bill would amend the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration's sole authority to establish standards for the control of aircraft noise. Under the administration's proposal, the standards, rules and regulations set by the Department of Transportation and the FAA would be subject to the veto of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Since 1968 when Congress first enacted legislation dealing with aircraft noise, the FAA and DOT have been moving forward by establishing rules and regulations pertaining to noise from aircraft. For this reason, the Subcommittee on Aviation wishes to explore the regulatory steps that have been taken so far, in order to assess whether Congress should reassign ultimate responsibility for regulation in this area to the new agency. The other bill before us is S. 1566, sponsored by Senator Cranston and others. Basically the bill requires significant aircraft noise reduction be accomplished through retrofit of current aircraft as of January 1, 1976. În addition, the legislation would authorize appropriations for research and development to accomplish this goal and Staff member assigned to these hearings: Robert E. Ginther. (627) would provide Government-guaranteed loans to the airlines to finance the retrofit costs. It would also direct the Civil Aeronautics Board to approve any air carrier fare increase that the carrier shows is necessary to pay for the cost of a retrofit program or for early retirement of aircraft. The Cranston bill raises important technical and social issues which the committee wishes to consider in an attempt to assess whether a program of retrofit and early retirement of present-day aircraft is realistic technically and economically, and whether it will provide meaningful and measurable relief to communities affected by aircraft noise, and finally whether the cost of such a program, if approved, should be borne by the general public, by the air carriers or by the passengers who patronize the airlines. Unfortunately, there presently exists a wide diversity of opinion regarding many of the technical and economic aspects of this important question. In addition, the control of aircraft noise is a relatively new technological undertaking and there is a rather limited amount of knowledge about what is presently technologically feasible. The committee will hear a number of expert witnesses from Government, industry, from public agencies and from the private sector on the subject in an attempt to better understand the current situation. (The bills and agency comments follow:) 92D CONGRESS 18T SESSION S. 1016 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 26 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 17), 1971 Mr. COOPER (for himself, Mr. HATFIELD, Mr. ALLOTT, Mr. BAKER, Mr. BAYH, Mr. BEALL, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. BOGGS, Mr. BROCK, Mr. BUCKLEY, Mr. DOLE, Mr. DOMINICK, Mr. FANNIN, Mr. GURNEY, Mr. HART, Mr. HRUSKA, Mr. JAVITS, Mr. JORDAN of Idaho, Mr. MATHIAS, Mr. MUSKIE, Mr. PACKWOOD, Mr. PASTORE, Mr. PEARSON, Mr. PERCY, Mr. PROUTY, Mr. RANDOLPH, Mr. SAXBE, Mr. SCHWEIKER, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. SPONG, Mr. TAFT, Mr. TOWER, and Mr. WEICKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committees on Commerce and Public Works A BILL To control the generation and transmission of noise detrimental to the human environment, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That this Act may be cited as the "Noise Control Act of 4 1971". 5 6 7 8 9 II FINDINGS AND POLICY SEC. 2. (a) The Congress finds— (1) that inadequately controlled noise presents a growing danger to the health and welfare of the Na tion's population, particularly in urban areas; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (2) that the major sources of noise include transportation vehicles and equipment, machinery, appliances, and other manufactured articles that move in commerce; and (3) that, while primary responsibility for control of noise rests in many respects with the States and local governments, Federal action is essential to deal with major noise problems requiring national uniformity of treatment. (b) The Congress declares that it is the policy of the 11 United States to promote an environment for all Americans 12 free from noise that jeopardizes their health or welfare. To 13 that end, it is the purpose of this Act to establish a means for 14 effective coordination of Federal research and activities in 15 noise control, to supplement existing Federal authority for 16 regulation of the noise characteristics of articles moving in 17 commerce, and to authorize Federal noise labeling require18 ments for such articles. Nothing in this Act is intended to 19 diminish the responsibilities of State and local governments 20 to regulate other aspects of noise within their jurisdictions. DEFINITIONS SEC. 3. As used in this Act the term (a) "Administrator" means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; 3 (b) "person" means any private person or entity, any officer, department, agency, or instrumentality of any State or local unit of government, and, except with respect to the provisions of section 12 (a), any officer, department, agency, or instrumentality of the Federal Government; (c) "product" means any article or good manufactured for sale in, or introduction into, commerce, including but not limited to transportation vehicles and equipment, machinery, and appliances: Provided, That it does not include (i) aircraft, aircraft engines, propellers, or appliances that are covered by title VI of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. 1421-32), (ii) those military aircraft, weapons, or equipment that are designed for combat use; or (iii) those aircraft, rockets, or equipment that are designed for research or experimental or developmental work to be performed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or other machinery or equipment designed for use in experimental work done by or for the Federal Government; (d) "ultimate purchaser" means the first person who in good faith purchases a new product for purposes other than resale; |