By: Zachary Atkins
Noise pollution belongs in environmental law because Congress itself treated uncontrolled noise as a threat to “health and welfare,” not a private annoyance.[1] The Noise Control Act declares a national policy of an environment “free from noise that jeopardizes” health and welfare, placing noise in the same conceptual category as other regulated pollutants.
That framing matters because nuisance law is typically bilateral and retrospective, focused on individualized interference, while environmental law is built to manage population-level risk and cumulative burdens.[2]
NEPA’s implementing regulations define the “human environment” comprehensively as the natural and physical environment and the relationship of people with that environment, which is broad enough to capture chronic community noise exposure.[3] CEQ’s definition of “effects” expressly includes “aesthetic” and “health” effects and recognizes “disproportionate and adverse effects on communities with environmental justice concerns,” which is the analytic posture noise impacts often require.[4]
Treating noise as merely “nuisance” also misdescribes the harm, because public-health authorities describe environmental noise as a driver of sleep disturbance, cardiovascular risk (including ischemic heart disease and hypertension), hearing impairment, tinnitus, and cognitive impairment.[5] WHO guidance also provides specific threshold-oriented recommendations (e.g., night-noise guidance expressed in dB(A)), underscoring that the harm is measurable and regulable rather than purely subjective.[6]
The environmental-law stakes of noise are about to rise because data center development is accelerating, driven in part by AI and cloud growth.[7] DOE’s announcement of the 2024 LBNL report states that U.S. data center load growth has “tripled over the past decade” and is projected to “double or triple by 2028,” which implies many new or expanded facilities and associated infrastructure.[8] The International Energy Agency likewise projects global data center electricity consumption to grow rapidly through 2030, reflecting the scale of new buildout.[9]
While energy and water impacts get the headlines, the day-to-day community friction often starts with noise because data centers are continuous industrial operations (cooling and air-handling equipment runs around the clock).
On the decibel question, there is no single “average” for every design and siting condition, but industry sources converge on a consistent internal range around server areas.
Sensear’s data center noise infographic reports an “average noise level” of about 92 dB(A) around server areas, with levels reaching up to 96 dB(A) within server racks.[10]
TechTarget similarly reports that noise levels can reach 96 dBA inside a data center, attributing that figure to C&C Technology Group.[11] For worker-health context, OSHA explains that exposure over 85 dB can damage hearing, which helps translate these internal figures into a recognized risk threshold.[12] External/community-relevant noise often comes from rooftop or yard equipment, cooling towers, air handling units, chillers, and generators, rather than the server rack itself.
One acoustics-focused overview states that data center cooling towers can generate noise “up to 85 dBA” and that rooftop air handling units may generate 85–100 dBA each (depending on size and configuration). Likewise, the air-cooled chillers, cooling towers, air handling units, and internal server fans can produce noise levels “up to 100 dBAs,” and notes that much of this equipment is located outside where sound can propagate into surrounding areas.[13]
Recent litigation shows noise is already being pleaded as an environmental harm tied to data centers, not merely a neighbor-to-neighbor nuisance. In Miles Crosby & Jennifer Singleton v. Colleton County (S.C. Ct. Com. Pl., filed Jan. 9, 2026), the complaint alleges that a proposed data center campus threatens plaintiffs’ use and enjoyment of their property due to, among other impacts, “noise … air and water pollution” and “light” impacts.[14] The pleading also states, as a general matter, that “Data centers produce noise,” linking the alleged harm to a category of land use with recurring environmental effects rather than a one-off private interference. That same complaint frames the impacts in environmental terms, noise, impervious surfaces affecting water quality, habitat loss, and traffic, illustrating how data center opposition is being litigated as a package of cumulative community burdens.
[1] Noise Control Act of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-574, § 2(a), 86 Stat. 1234, 1234 (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 4901(a)).
[2] Council on Envtl. Quality, Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, 40 C.F.R. § 1508.1(k) (2023) (definition of “human environment”).
[3] 40 C.F.R. § 1508.1(g) (definition of “effects,” including health and environmental justice considerations).
[4] Council on Envtl. Quality, Environmental Justice: Guidance Under the National Environmental Policy Act (1997), https://ceq.doe.gov.
[5] World Health Organization, Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region 1–3 (2018), https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789289053563.
[6] World Health Organization, Night Noise Guidelines for Europe 108–09 (2009), https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789289041737.
[7] U.S. Dep’t of Energy, DOE Announces Report on United States Data Center Energy Use (Dec. 2024), https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-announces-report-united-states-data-center-energy-use.
[8] Lawrence Berkeley Nat’l Lab., United States Data Center Energy Usage Report (2024), https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/articles/united-states-data-center-energy-usage-report.
[9] International Energy Agency, Electricity 2024: Analysis and Forecast to 2026 (2024), https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2024.
[10] Sensear, Data Center Noise Levels Infographic, https://www.sensear.com/markets/data-centers/noise-levels-infographic.
[11] George Crump, How Loud Is a Data Center?, TechTarget, https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/tip/How-loud-is-a-data-center.
[12] Occupational Safety & Health Admin., Occupational Noise Exposure, https://www.osha.gov/noise.
[13] DataCenterKnowledge, Managing Noise Pollution in Data Centers, https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/design/managing-noise-pollution-data-centers.
[14] Complaint, Miles Crosby & Jennifer Singleton v. Colleton County, No. ___ (S.C. Ct. Com. Pl. filed Jan. 9, 2026).