Rule 012: Noise Control

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The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) has revised Rule 012: Noise Control with an effective date of September 30, 2024. Major changes to Rule 012 include: 

• Section 1.4 has been updated to clarify that continuous and persistent ceremonial and cultural sites may be considered receptors. 

• New basic sound levels have been added for receptors in suburban and urban areas in Table 1.  

• Section 2.4 has been updated by adding a milestone for determining permissible sound levels at new dwellings. 

• Section 2.6 has been updated to clarify the process for establishing ambient sound levels.  

• Section 4.5 has been updated to clarify that the Commission may require tonality evaluation for all audible frequencies.  

• A new flowchart has been added to allow proponents to determine if preparation of a noise impact assessment is required in cases where noise from a facility is expected to be minimal. 

In addition to the revised rule, the AUC has issued the following documents to explain the revisions: 

• An overview highlighting major changes the AUC decided to make to Rule 012, including the rationale behind those changes and a summary of comments that the AUC collected during consultation.  

• A comment matrix with parties’ feedback from consultation and the AUC’s response. Due to the extensive volume of parties’ comments, the AUC has aggregated and organized them into thematic groups and provided a response to each group of comments.  

• A blackline version of Rule 012 showing the changes made to Rule 012. 

The AUC has also reformatted the Rule 012 document to align with the current AUC style for rule documents and made non-substantive administrative corrections. 

All materials related to Rule 012, including the documents listed above, can be found on the Consultations page of the AUC’s website, as well as on the AUC’s Rule 012 Engage page. The revised Rule 012 is available on the AUC rules page and the associated forms can be found on the Rule 012 related information page.  

Questions regarding Rule 012 can be sent to Joan Yu.