Since June, constant noise from continuous power units (CPU) at the GlobalFoundries site has been tormenting some residents of Malta and Stillwater; and they’re fed up.
“It’s already been three months that we’ve endured this and now you’re telling us the best we’re looking at is hopefully four [more] months but no guarantees … so we’re looking at almost a year of this noise and you’ve not investigated anything besides hay to absorb the sound?” said Jeff Ehrenberg, a resident in earshot of the drone.
Ehrenberg and a handful of other concerned residents spoke at a packed meeting of the Community Response Board and GlobalFoundries on Tuesday, Aug. 30, at the Malta Community Center.
The town and GlobalFoundries have been inundated with complaints from residents who can’t handle and don’t want to handle the 24-hour (yes, it’s around the clock) noise. Carol Henry of the CRB read an email detailing GloFo’s solution to the problem, which has a rough 16-week timetable of completion.
“We believe the CPS units, which are part of our back-up power generation system, are the source of the sound. The mitigation strategy includes replacing the louvers in the building which house the CPS units with sound attenuation baffles, which are designed to keep much more of the sound within in the building,” wrote Jessica Shahda, communications specialist at GlobalFoundries, in the email.
Mike Russo, director of U.S. government relations at GlobalFoundries, said sound engineers originally thought the noise was related to construction and eventually discovered that the backup power generator units were the source of the noise because they’re always running and spinning.
“We shut down the CPS units, which helped that weekend for a few days. The noise didn’t go away but it was better,” said Russo.
Construction efforts continue to grow at the chip fab, which means more CPS units need to run. Russo said GloFo is hopeful they’ve found a solution and implored residents to bear with the company a little longer while it went out to bid for baffles.
“We’re going out to bid. We can’t give an exact date on that but what we’ve done is move forward,” said Russo.
The baffles should be installed about 16 weeks from now, said Russo. They will be mounted on the wall and protrude from the wall on the inside and outside of the building, as well as on the roof. After the baffles are installed, a sound attenuation expert will evaluate the effectiveness of the installation and make any additional recommendations if required.
“We have been and will continue to move forward as expeditiously as possible. We appreciate everyone’s continued patience in what is a very complicated and sensitive situation,” said Shahda in the email, which circulated to town officials and residents.
Jillian Ehrenberg, her voice shaking at time, pleaded with GlobalFoundries to give her an exact date to look forward to. She said she had a list of at least 155 names of people who wanted the noise issue resolved and with young children, her concerns were magnified.
“From a psychological and emotional point of view, do you have a specific date we can hold on to? This has already been very stressful for us. It’s well documented the effects of this kind of noise, when it’s continuous, on individuals, children and the elderly in particular,” said Ehrenberg. “As a way to try and cope we need something to hold on to. I need a date and I don’t just speak for myself. I need to hold on to it because I’m really starting to lose my mind.”
Russo said he couldn’t provide a down-to-the-day date because the expected completion of baffles was still so far off. To erroneously provide a date would probably make the situation worse, he said, if construction gets behind schedule.
“When you’re going through any construction project, the closer you get to the end date is when you have a better handle on when you’re going to be finished,” said Russo.
Russo said he would try to find a way to provide some sort of regular communication to residents to update them on the construction process and when they could expect noise reduction.
Ehrenberg also brought up an issue not related to noise, which she didn’t get a concrete answer to.
“Are we supposed to be able to see the bright lights at night like Albany or New York City or is it supposed to be dark? Are we supposed to have the stars obscured by the brightness of the lights?” said Ehrenberg.
Russo said he didn’t have an answer but that lights are to be expected at a tech park.
Other residents voiced concerns about the value of their homes, questioning if they would be able to sell it with the surrounding noise and if they did without disclosing that factor, would they be at risk.
The CRB, created by the Malta Town Board to serve as a forum for discussing community concerns with GloFo, also discussed traffic through residential neighborhoods on Dunning Street.
“The town has been receiving complaints of traffic … with the closure of Stonebreak Road traffic has increased to the point where neighbors are complaining about not getting out to roadways,” said Henry.
Russo said GlobalFoundries is committed to doing what it can to work on the problem and has told its employees to limit use of the roadways.
