In one of the first judicial decisions interpreting the Noise Control Act of 1972¹ and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) obligations under it, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected EPA's argument for narrow federal preemption of noise source regulation and held that the agency must issue noise standards for railroad "equipment and facilities" (the statutory phrase) covering more than just rail cars and locomotives.² EPA had interpreted the Act to give it wide discretion as to which noise sources in the rail industry it would regulate, leaving as much regulatory authority as possible to the state and local agencies more familiar with the noise problems caused by different local conditions. The decision is a long step toward requiring national uniformity of railroad noise regulation, vindicating the rail industry's interpretation of the language it had lobbied into the original Noise Control Act. The standards already promulgated, applying to existing and new rail cars and locomotives, were left standing. While the decision does not disturb the statutory provision allowing local authorities to impose regulations different from existing federal standards in response to special local conditions and after approval by the federal government, the ruling will put a heavy burden on EPA to expand its noise control efforts. Unfortunately, the Agency has long given a low priority to noise pollution control relative to other programs.