At the recent Cornell Environmental Law Society conference on "Gas Drilling, Sustainability and Energy Policy" it was made very clear that "fracking" is only part of the equation. Along with the drilling and exponential increase in truck traffic, communities will see a lot of infrastructure development. That means pipelines and compressor stations.
If you don't have compressors in your area, here's a video tour to acquaint you.
Thanks to videographer Scott Cannon for posting this video on You Tube. If the video doesn't work, you can link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww2Dpw7dEHQ&feature=youtu.be
No one has said much about the Noise from the compressor stations. This noise travels from five to eight miles in all directions. I live about 0.9 miles from a large compressor station with 10 - 1340 horsepower compressors. They run me out of my home on an almost daily basis.
ReplyDeleteI have been to the hospital emergency room five times. The first time, they found brain damage after I had been exposed to severe LFN for two hours on three separate consecutive days. Next was severely high blood pressure. Next was severe hearing loss and ruptured ear drum. I now have a permanent hole in my ear drum. Severe headaches and constricting blood vessels. Diagnosis with Vibro-Acoustic Disease (VAD). A key sign of VAD is a thickening of the pericardium (sack) around the heart. Only an echo-cardiogram test will reveal it.
The Lisbon, Portugal Human Development Center named the disease after studying it and performing autopsies for 25 years. The cause is Severe or long term exposure to Low Frequency Noise (LFN). LFN is noise that has a frequency less than 500 cycle per second (CPS). Natural Gas Compressor Stations emit LFN continuously. The LFN causes the body to secrete adrenaline. The adrenaline in turn causes blood vessels to constrict. The smallest blood vessels are in the brain and eyes. Visual acuity is severely affected. Some exposed folks have died of brain annurisms in our county. Age doesn't matter. Some people are affected more than others.
No one knows why the damage is occuring. They can not hear the LFN because it is below normal human hearing range of 500 CPS. Human hearing upper limit is 20,000 CPS. Typically, Compressor Stations emit 25 and 31.5 CPS at the loudest Noise levels.
This noise can be measured with a noise meter having the lower limit of 25 CPS and up to 20,000 CPS. A Goldline DSP30 model is available. Cost $3,000. Out group bought one. As a registered professional engineer, I have taken readings all over our county in Texas. One cannot get out of the LFN in our county since we have 130 such compressor stations.
No one is enforcing the federal Noise Control Act of 1972. EPA closed its noise control office in 1982 as a cost cutting measure and delegated authority to state and local governments. Only six states: California, Illinois, Maine, Massachussets, New York and recently Colorado have state noise laws. LFN is generally not addressed except in Colorado. We all need a state noise law in our state patterned after Colorado. In the alternative, we need the EPA reinvolved in this critical noise issue. You can access our Blogspot at: http://www.cecfairfieldtexasblogspot.com/ .
Citizens for Environmental Clean-Up