Neighborhood Sound Monitoring & Baseline Data Repository

HorseCreekProject.org is developing a neighborhood-wide sound-monitoring program to better understand existing ambient sound conditions before the proposed power project is constructed.

This page serves as the central repository for processed sound and weather data collected from multiple monitoring locations throughout the surrounding neighborhood. As additional recording sites are established and new datasets are processed, reports will be added here so residents, technical experts, regulators, and other interested parties can review the information in one place.

The monitoring program is still in its early stages. We are currently evaluating equipment, placement, logging intervals, weather integration, data presentation, and methods for identifying ordinary neighborhood activity and environmental conditions within the recordings.

These reports are baseline community measurements, not finished acoustic studies and not predictions of future power-plant noise.

The purpose of collecting this information now is to begin documenting what the neighborhood sounds like under existing conditions and to develop a repeatable method for future monitoring. Over time, data from multiple locations may help establish a more complete picture of normal daytime and nighttime sound levels across the area.

This repository is also intended to serve as a starting point for conversations with residents, acoustical professionals, regulators, and Black Hills Energy about how future sound should be measured, what additional monitoring may be appropriate, and what objective information could be used when discussing potential noise mitigation if the proposed project moves forward.

This is an evolving community research project. New monitoring locations and processed data logs will be added as they become available.

Preliminary Community Monitoring Report — Sound & Weather Baseline Data