Concord, Massachusetts-based Quiet Communities Inc. says it has worked with hundreds of communities nationwide to reduce health and environmental harm from noise pollution. It is suing on behalf of more than 200 formal members.

Congress enacted the Noise Control Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 4901(b), in 1972 to coordinate federal noise control research and establish standards for products. A 1978 law, the Quiet Communities Act, 42 U.S.C.A. § 4913, amended the NCA to direct EPA assistance to noise control efforts by state and local governments.

After years of promulgating regulations and assisting local communities, the EPA in 1982 abandoned its duties by shutting down the Office of Noise Abatement and Control, enforcement operations and regional noise programs, according to the complaint.

"Noise pollution has gone unstudied and unregulated by EPA — for four decades — contrary to congressional commands that require otherwise," the group says.

Quiet Communities also notes that the agency has not incorporated noise pollution into the Biden administration's environmental justice efforts.

The suit seeks relief under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.A. § 706(1), which authorizes reviewing courts to compel agency action that has been "unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed."

The EPA has failed in eight categories of nondiscretionary duties under the NCA, including developing noise control criteria, identifying techniques for controlling product noise and distributing educational materials on the public health effects of noise, Quiet Communities says.

The group requests an injunction ordering the EPA to promptly perform its NCA duties.

Jeffrey M. Feldman of Summit Law Group PLLC represents the plaintiff.