Denver's One Noise Violation May Cost $500,000

Denver International Airport recorded one noise violation in 2006 for which it may owe Adams County and some of its cities $500,000 in "noise mitigation" payments.

It was the second year in a row that DIA incurred only one serious noise violation, each of which is eligible for the $500,000 payment.

DIA reported 24 noise violations for the year that ended Feb. 28, 2001, carrying with them a $12 million liability.

The money is used to make home improvements that minimize noise.

In other good news for the airport, DIA recorded only 713 noise complaints from residents last year, down significantly from 2,129 complaints in 2005 and 2,859 in 2004, said Mike McKee, the airport's chief noise officer.

DIA and Adams County rely on an elaborate computerized system for registering noise levels at 101 geographical locations to the north, west and south of the airport.

Complex model

To determine annual decibel levels at the locations, the system charts the radar tracks of all DIA flights and then calculates noise the flights generate based on the type of plane, altitude and other factors.

For the past two years, only one of the 101 noise locations, a site near Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, has exceeded noise limits established in the DIA-Adams computer model.

Since the violation at the Buckley site showed up again in 2006 and DIA did not resolve the previous year's violation in the same location, DIA will owe another $500,000 plus interest for the 2005 violation, said Mark Davis, an attorney who represents Adams County on noise matters with DIA.

In late 2002, a court settlement resulted in DIA paying Adams and various cities more than $40 million for past noise violations.

Since then, DIA has paid $1.75 million for three violations in 2002 and another $1.8 million for three more violations in 2003 and 2004.

Even though the Buckley location persists as one that continues to record a noise violation, other noise data from last year show additional progress by the airport, McKee said.

"Although we continue to have one violation, at many of the other 100 points that were not in violation, noise levels were even lower in 2006 than 2005," he said.

Planes now quieter

The main reason for DIA's ongoing reduction in the number of annual noise violations is the work by aircraft manufacturers and airlines to make planes quieter, McKee said.

But the growing number of flights - even by quieter aircraft - threatens to reverse the recent trend and possibly increase the number of annual noise violations, experts say.

Another factor could lead Adams officials to conclude that there has been an undercounting of noise violations.

When radar data is missing or incomplete on some flights, it is not counted, officials say, and the "lost" data, if restored, might tip DIA's noise calculation into the violation category.

But DIA's McKee said very little radar data is incomplete - certainly not enough to make a statistical difference when calculating whether noise limits have been exceeded.

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