Contrary to the stereotype of the overweening “nanny state” regulator, EPA is vigorously fighting a lawsuit that seeks to compel it to resume stewardship of the Noise Control Act.
Once a core function of what is now EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, noise regulation was dropped from the agency’s portfolio in the early 1980s by Congress at the prompting of then-President Ronald Reagan.
And the agency doesn’t want it back.
Notwithstanding the challengers’ claim that the agency has unreasonably delayed taking action under the 1972 law, “Congress — the ultimate source of any mandatory duties contained in the NCA — determined over 40 years ago that it was reasonable for EPA to cease new activities under this statute and defer further noise control efforts to state and local programs,” government attorneys wrote in a recent filing that seeks to have the suit thrown out.
