The Noise of Fracking

Last week, NPR ran a story on the sounds of natural gas compressor stations – the infrastructure used to move gas out of wells and along pipelines (a longer version is available here). As NPR noted, while levels may stay within the decibel range established by local regulations, those ordinances do not take into account how the constant humming produced by stations affects residents.

Partly because of their excessive noise, compressor stations have become a particular focus for local residents and environmentalists concerned over the growing pollution caused by fracking. While energy companies have attempted to blend such stations into surrounding neighborhoods (see this completely-serious-and-somehow-not-an-Onion video from Chesapeake Energy), the sound levels created by the stations remain obtrusive.

One major issue that the NPR story and the video by Chesapeake Energy neglected to cover was the sound created by what are called blowdowns – the release of natural gas from a section of pipeline. Energy companies generally activate blowdowns when sections of pipeline need to be repaired. Blowdowns are also used to vent gas when pressures reach unsafe levels.

TransCanada provides this corporate propaganda helpful factsheet for local residents interested in understanding just what, exactly, is causing the sound they can't help but hear. Here's how TransCanada describes the process: "This gas release is similar to letting air out of a car tire: the most forceful rush of air occurs at the very beginning, then the flow gradually slows down. The first 30 to 60 minutes of the blowdown are the loudest, but the entire blowdown may last up to three hours." Natural gas typically travels through pipelines at a compression rate somewhere between 800 to 1400 pounds per square inch (5,500 to 9,500 kiloPascals), resulting in a gas plume that can reach heights of 200 feet. 

A quick YouTube searched discovered numerous videos of local residents filming and monitoring the sound of blowdowns. First up is a recording from Ohio, where in 2009 user alfbe4 measured the decibel levels emanating from his neighboring station with a noise dosimeter. Decibel levels exceeded 90dB (i.e., if you listen to this, turn down your volume).




And user Leland T Snyder uploaded this 13-minute video last July:




While the sound levels of the compressors can be limited by the federal government to 55dB, there appear to be no limits on the sound levels of blowdowns. If anyone knows more about this, let me know. The videos above are several years old, and I'm wondering what has changed - if anything - in recent years.

Listening to Yellowstone, Day 5: Winter soundscapes, snowmobiles, and howitzers

From Wikimedia Commons

Yellowstone's winters have long fascinated visitors. Though winter tourism was rare before the 1920s, hunters were known to roam the snow-covered park at the time of its establishment and continued to track buffalo, wolves, and other animals long after hunting was banned by the U.S. Army in 1886. By the 1990s nearly 150,000 people visited the park each winter to ski the Upper Terrace of Mammoth Hot Springs, snowshoe with park rangers, and watch the wolves prowl Lamar Valley.

Listening to Yellowstone, Day 4: Truman Everts's Ear

On September 9, 1870, Truman Everts lost sight of his fellow travelers while attempting to navigate his horse around a thicket of fallen trees on the southern shores of Yellowstone Lake. Such windfalls regularly hampered the company of the now-famous Washburn Expedition, so Everts felt no concern when he realized he had become separated from the rest of the party. He simply steered his ride in the direction he assumed the others had taken and pressed forward.

He emerged from the Yellowstone wilderness thirty-seven days later starving, severely burned, and near death.

Listening to Yellowstone: Day 3, Yellowstone Lake's Mysterious Music

"Here we first heard, while out on the lake in the bright still morning, the mysterious aerial sound for which this region is noted. It put me in mind of the vibrating clang of a harp lightly and rapidly touched high up above the tree tops, or the sound of many telegraph wires swinging regularly and rapidly in the wind, or, more rarely, of faintly heard voices answering each other overhead."

S.A. Forbes, ca. 1890

Of the many sounds heard throughout the Yellowstone ecosystem, perhaps none has proven so fascinating and so difficult to explain as those heard at Yellowstone Lake. Between 1872 and 1937, travelers regularly described hearing "humming," "ringing," and "harp-like" sounds drifting over the waves.

Listening to Yellowstone: Day 2, "Ominous Intonations from Beneath"

Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park.

"There is also a number of places where the pure suphor is sent forth in abundance one of our men Visited one of those wilst taking his recreation there at an instan the earth began a tremendous trembling and he with dificulty made his escape when an explosion took place resembling that of thunder. During our stay in that quarter I heard it every day."

Daniel Potts, July 8, 1827 

When I think of my first visit to Yellowstone, I remember being overwhelmed – like most are -- by its grandeur, by its abundant wildlife and, perhaps most of all, by the vastness of the country. While my parents were content to visit the major attractions, I spent hours seeking solitary refuge from the crowds in order to sit and simply listen to the environment and enjoy the absence of others.

Listening to Yellowstone: Day 1

Yellowstone National Park's Old Faithful Inn locked its doors yesterday for the season. Beartooth Pass Highway, winding its way from the park's northeast entrance along the Wyoming-Montana border and through the Gallatin National Forest, closed as well yesterday due to snow and ice. The highway will probably open again in May when plows are finally able to clear the roads. Bull elk still bugle, though their calls are becoming less frequent as the seasons change. Grizzlies are nearing hibernation. Snow is falling. Winter is...well, you get the picture.

Din and Noise

Image courtesy of Hindustan Times

From the Hindustan Times comes an article concerning the noise levels in Mumbai as election season ends and Diwali begins. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and members of the Awaaz Foundation, including noted environmental activist Sumaira Abdulali, have monitored the decibel levels of fireworks for several years and have had some success in reducing the sound level of the more popular pyrotechnics. The activists' campaign aims to keep decibel levels below 125dB for a single explosion -- still loud (roughly that of a 747 taking off), but quieter than the fireworks used in years past.

I first heard of Abdulali in a Washington Post article from last year, which is well worth reading. Abdulali has been monitoring Mumbai's noise levels for years (the city was named noisiest in the world just this past summer) through the Awaaz Foundation, which she founded in 2002. Awaaz and the MPCB have been monitoring fireworks decibel levels since 2004.