Residents, health-district expert say ReWorld plant’s low-frequency tones exceed state limits; company and its consultant dispute method

An acoustical expert retained by the Bristol-Burlington Health District testified that monitoring near the ReWorld (formerly Covanta) trash-to-energy plant in Bristol regularly recorded a low-frequency signal that, by his calculation, exceeded Connecticut’s discrete-tone standard and therefore constituted excessive noise.

Carl Anthony Cascio, an acoustical engineer and principal of Acoustical Technologies Inc., told the hearing that continuous measurements taken at a monitor sited near 639 Lake Avenue — about 975 feet from the plant stacks — show repeated peaks in the 125-hertz third-octave band. "I think the last calculation was 82% of those 15-minute periods have a value that's greater than 14," Cascio said, describing the metric the state regulations use to identify a "prominent discrete tone." He said that when the 125 Hz band is routinely above about 46 dBA, the discrete-tone criterion is met and the facility creates a nuisance under Connecticut law.

That technical finding was paired with first-hand testimony from nearby residents. Mary Ellen Fila Wazorko, who said she lives roughly 1.5 to 2 miles from the plant, described nearly continuous, rhythmic noise beginning in August 2023 that she and other neighbors traced to the plant. "It was like somebody flipped a switch," Wazorko said. She said the noise has disrupted sleep and family life; she testified that her physician prescribed sleeping pills and that she sometimes must leave home overnight. Another resident, Benjamin Todd Miller, said the pulses made him "feel nauseous," increased his anxiety and disrupted his ability to work from home.

Cascio described his equipment and methods to the hearing officer: he initially took targeted short measurements, then purchased a Larson Davis 831c continuous sound-level monitor and began longer-term sampling in October 2024. He said his continuous system records one-second samples aggregated into 15-minute files and that he has issued reports covering October–December 2024 and additional sampling through April–July 2025. Cascio said some shorter, earlier measurements (May–June 2024) were daytime-limited and therefore not sufficient to characterize nighttime performance; that prompted him to install continuous monitoring.

ReWorld and its consultant NCE dispute how to apply the state's discrete-tone provisions. NCE, ReWorld's consultant, argued in filings and rebuttal that the correct regulatory approach reduces the broadband limit by 5 dB where a tone is present; Cascio said the 5-dB adjustment should be applied to the tone itself, not across the entire broadband signature. "If you apply the 5 dB to the broadband signature," Cascio testified, "you're working on the wrong problem." The difference in interpretation affects whether and how much the plant must lower particular frequency components to achieve compliance.

The hearing record also contains multiple technical details and timeline markers: Cascio testified that earlier targeted testing occurred on May 31, June 3, June 5, June 16 and June 19, 2024; the health-district-installed continuous monitor collected data from October through December 2024 (with gaps in January–February) and additional data in April, June and July 2025. Cascio said the plant at times operated with different numbers of boilers and induced-draft fans, and that plant operation changed the amplitude and periodicity of the pulses (he described beat periods of roughly 18.5 and 13.5 seconds earlier in the record, later shortening to about 9.5 seconds after modifications).

ReWorld's witness in the hearing (George Drew, director of environmental for ReWorld’s East Region) was sworn and began to describe the company's operations and regional responsibilities; ReWorld has submitted its own consultant reports identifying different measurement results and arguing that testing windows and methods affect outcomes. The parties have exchanged reports and memos and debated whether short-term excursions and the state regulation’s short-term-excursion table alter compliance findings.

Connecticut law and agency rules were repeatedly cited during testimony. Counsel and witnesses referred to Connecticut General Statutes §22a-67 (described at the hearing as the state policy regarding noise) and to the state regulations' discrete-tone language and short-term-excursion provisions (participants referred to sections in the 22a-69 series during testimony). Cascio also cited academic and agency guidance (for example, a New York Department of Environmental Conservation report) in explaining why discrete tones are perceived as more irritating than broadband noise.

The hearing record shows clear factual disagreements about measurement timing, instrumentation and regulatory interpretation rather than disagreement about whether residents are troubled by the noise. Cascio concluded the tone is present "a large percentage of the time" and that the 125-Hz band is the primary contributor to the audible problem; residents described chronic sleep loss, avoidance of outdoor spaces and limits on hosting family because of unpredictable noise spikes. ReWorld and its consultant maintain that different measurement choices and application of the regulatory test yield different compliance conclusions.

The hearing remained open after the testimony summarized here. Cascio said his final written analysis of the continuous data and post-modification behavior had not been completed for submission at that time. No formal remedy or enforcement action was announced on the record during the portion of the proceeding in this transcript; the parties continued to litigate measurement methods, discrete-tone calculations and appropriate corrective steps.