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ALAMEDA: Thank you for the line of questioning. Let me ask Commissioner Siracusa
<br />first, and then Commissioner Watanabe. Do you have any questions for the testifier the
<br />Department?
<br />SIRACUSA: I have a question for the Director.
<br />ALAMEDA: Sure.
<br />SIRACUSA: Years ago when I was active in the whole issue about geothermal and we
<br />were looking at the Department of Health noise regulations, as I recall, in an agricultural area if
<br />it were 75 decibels, and there was difference between day and night also, but it had to do with
<br />stationary sources or moving sources. And therefore, a tractor being a moving source would not
<br />be covered under that, whereas a plant that was cracking macadamia nuts would be considered a
<br />stationary source. So would you comment on that in relation to the right-to-farm thing that you
<br />were talking about before?
<br />ALAMEDA: Mr. Director?
<br />YUEN: Yes. You are absolutely right, except for the number. The Department of
<br />Health does not regulate moving sources like a noisy tractor; it does regulate stationary sources
<br />like potentially a macadamia nut husking facility or, you know, a mill, you know, so -. And the
<br />number is 70 dBA, and day and night that’s the same number. It’s, and one thing I need to
<br />caution, I mean, we had this testimony on 120 decibels. The dBA can be a little bit different;
<br />there is a weighting. When you get a decibel meter, there is a different weighting of the decibel
<br />meter. There is dBA, dBB, and, well, mostly they go with dBA or dBC, and the number can be
<br />different depending on the weighting. But the Department of Health standard is 70 dBA, and I
<br />believe that’s measured at the property line. It wouldn’t be, you know, it wouldn’t be measured,
<br />you know, ten feet from the facility itself. So and just to give you an idea, that’s fairly loud. I
<br />mean, as far as somebody -, it’s something that you would sit there and notice if you had 70 dBA
<br />going on. If we had a source for example here that was 70 dBA, it’s something like if you had
<br />an idling lawn mower in the middle of this room here, it might be something like that. I mean
<br />that is a fairly loud noise and, as a witness testified, 100 plus is really, really loud. I don’t know
<br />what it’s like at the property boundary at all.
<br />ALAMEDA: Ms. Siracusa, follow-up?
<br />SIRACUSA: Yes. I’m thinking in terms especially of the husking facility, which is a
<br />stationary source and which, by Mr. Farwell’s own admission, exceeds the 70 dBA. And I’m
<br />wondering how we can address his concern that the right-to-farm laws might not protect him,
<br />should Mr. Martinage and his partner choose to make an issue.
<br />YUEN: Well, I wouldn’t jump to that. I asked him the question about his noise
<br />just to get an idea if he’d actually -, you know, and then it turned out he had looked at this. And
<br />I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that he is not in compliance, because of this dBA versus dBC
<br />issue, you know. I don’t know what dB weighting he was using in measuring that, plus I’m not
<br />entirely sure-, I’m not sure where the Department of Health measures this from and whether it’s
<br />at a property line or not. So I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that he is out of compliance.
<br />However, if he is not, you know, if he isn’t, not in compliance with the Department of Health,
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