Public Reactions – 5/23/12 – “Model Malfunction”

The former Chairperson of the Falmouth Board of Selectmen made this ‘obtuse’ observation to the press, after the review of the DEP’s Wind 1 Noise Study ~ “the noise violation is only at one house and is only in violation between 1 and 4 am.”

A Letter to the Falmouth Editor from a Woods Hole Scientist followed – May 22, 2012
….Some have commented that “only one house failed.” This misses the point. Only one house in that area was tested. The purpose of testing is to collect a representative sample. There are two houses west and one east of the one that failed. All are closer to Wind 1 than the house that failed. It seems likely that all of these would fail, if the testing equipment was set up on those properties.
But the real issue is that the sound modeling has failed. According to the model, the house in question should have passed. So the modeling is wrong at that location. If the model is wrong there, why should we believe it’s correct elsewhere? There is no practical way to test every house in every wind condition, so we depend on modeling to insure that the noise is not excessive. Clearly, the model is inadequate.