It's getting difficult to tell the difference between incompetence and corruption, as widespread as both of them are, and how their consequences always overlap.

Or they don't see the problem. Someone's paying 600-900k to live in a townhouse 1000 ft from the runways at Dulles Airport

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/?category=SEMANTIC&sea...

My wife and I travel in our RV a lot and used to full time. Some RV parks - even when full - are often totally quiet and peaceful at least enough to not notice a slight background noise of cars driving around here and there.

Then a family will arrive that seems like they're at a Disney theme park and you just hear screaming kids non-stop. It's like a tornado is hitting for days. We always joke if you ask a tornado if it's quiet it will answer of course- I don't hear anything. Because there is NOTHING louder than the tornado and that's all it knows.

What do you mean, "allowed" to vote on it? The county officials are the decisionmakers, who should have allowed or not allowed them?

It also seems worth noting that these gas turbine generators are meant to be the solution to another big complaint people have about datacenters, that they might drive up local power prices if they plug into the grid. Like you and the people in the article, I'm personally very sensitive to noise pollution. so to me this sounds like another argument that datacenters should connect to the grid after all. But I'm sure some people disagree and think it's worth it to save on electricity, and others disagree and think there shouldn't be datacenters near them at all.

The local government has to resolve the disagreement somehow and no solution is going to make everyone happy.

In Seattle I can hear industrial noises from the businesses along the Duwamish waterway. All night long there’s high pitch industrial whining noises, train horns, boat horns, plus occasional Boeing Field jet engine testing.

I’m not up on a hill, in fact I’m at the bottom of a depression behind a giant hill blocking direct line of sight and about .75 mi away in a direct line.

There’s also an industrial kitchen nearby that is its own incredible loudness. Also a state housing complex nearby with mentally unwell people screaming all night outside.

Point is, if you ban anything that makes noise you’ll be left with nothing, it’s pure selfish nimbyism. The loudest whining always seems to be from people’s mouths.