(2) Nothing in this section shall diminish or enhance the rights of any State or political subdivision thereof to establish and enforce standards or controls on levels of environmental noise, or to control, license, regulate, or restrict the use, operation, or movement of any product if the Administrator, after consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, determines that such standard, control, license, regulation, or restriction is necessitated by special local conditions and is not in conflict with regulations promulgated under this section. Definitions (d) For purposes of this section, the term "motor carrier" includes a common carrier by motor vehicle, a contract carrier by motor vehicle, and a private carrier of property by motor vehicle as those terms are defined by paragraphs (14), (15), and (17) of section 303 (a) of Title 49. Pub.L. 92-574, § 18, Oct. 27, 1972, 86 Stat. 1249. § 4918. Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this chapter (other than section 4914 of this title) $3,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1973; $6,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1974; and $12,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1975. Pub.L. 92-574, § 19, Oct. 27, 1972, 86 Stat. 1250. [Legislative history is located in Supp. I-Noise] 4.3 EPA REPORT ON AIRCRAFT-AIRPORT NOISE, AS RE- 4.3a Report on Aircraft-Airport Noise, Report of the Adminis- TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION Noise, "unwanted sound," has been a problem throughout the history of the human race. The increasing use of noise producing machinery concurrent with vastly greater magnitudes of sound generated therefrom (of which aviation systems are a classic case) has resulted in the noise problem increasing to a point of major environmental concern. The relations between noise and man with respect to his health (well being) and welfare (in its broadest sense) are extremely complex. These are discussed in considerable detail in the EPA document, "Public Health and Welfare Criteria for Noise," issued by the EPA under Section 5 of the Noise Control Act of 1972. As discussed in that document the effects of noise cover a wide range of human response, including that (the most severe) of permanent impairment of hearing; interference with the ability to communicate or undertake desired hearing tasks; annoyance of varying degree, and other vague and difficult to define reactions. A major consideration with regard to noise as an environmental problem, and one having considerable importance in regard to aviation noise, is that hearing is one of man's main sensory contacts with his environment (being second only to vision in that regard). A part of the reaction to aircraft noise may be (and by many authorities is so considered) attributed to a number of connotations, such as fear, or social antagonism, in the "message" interpreted by its listener. Aircraft/airport noise is not a new problem for the United States. [p. 1] Virtually from the dawn of aviation, there have been complaints regarding aircraft noise. It was recognized early that noise from aircraft engines could affect the hearing of pilots and ground crew personnel, as evidenced by the fact that one of the earliest investigations conducted by the Aero Medical Laboratory of the Army Air Corps, during World War I, related to aviators' hearing (1). One of the earliest recorded official noise complaints, related to aircraft operations, occurred in 1928 at which time a farmer wrote to the Postmaster General stating that low flying aircraft were disrupting egg production (2). Until World War II, air transportation in the civil sector developed at a very slow rate. During World War II, the extensive utilization of military aircraft for passenger and freight transportation provided an impetus to the aviation industry which laid |