“Noise is the New Smoking”
Federal Judge: EPA Can’t Ignore Noise Pollution In a July 2026 ruling in a civil lawsuit, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unlawfully neglected its legal obligation to address unhealthy noise under the 1972 Noise Control Act for more than 40 … Read more
We Cautiously Endorse Matt McDermott for City Council Of the five official candidates in the Ward 2 City Council special election, three of the four Democratic candidates responded to our survey on noise issues and policy. We were disappointed that David Caldwell didn’t respond — despite publicly citing noise as an issue — and could not reach Brown … Read more
In late 2024, Providence City Council member and Environment Committee chair Sue AnderBois (Ward 3) introduced a proposed amendment (47724) to regulate the use of heavily-polluting gas-fueled leafblowers and similar landscaping equipment in the city. The amendment co-sponsors were Council members John Goncalves (Ward 1), Helen Anthony (Ward 2), Miguel Sanchez (Ward 5), Ana Vargas … Read more
In 2023, newly elected Providence Mayor Brett Smiley proposed addressing excessive noise by purchasing hand-held noise meters for Providence Police, which sounded oddly familiar to Noise Project volunteers. The text below is from Providence City Council member Jo-Ann Ryan’s Oct. 2017 News & Notes blog: We asked Mayor Smiley’s office what happened to the noise … Read more
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The Noise Project sent a two-page survey regarding noise issues to all three candidates for Providence mayor, as well as all of the ballot-qualified candidates for City Council (including incumbents / those running unopposed). Below are our endorsements in the primary election. After much deliberation, we split our endorsement for mayor between City Council member Nirva LaFortune and … Read more
Noise Project letter to Mayor Elorza* _______________ * Mayor Elorza never acknowledged or responded to our letter.
