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# Free the beach of noise pollution
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/free-the-beach-of-noise-pollution-editor/
- Published: 2005-12-12T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T08:17:17.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Pier, #archive-import

*By Mark Humphrey*

For those of us fortunate enough to live near the beach, but whose lives permit limited time to enjoy it, the early morning hours are a perfect time to recharge there via such activities as surfing, jogging, exercising, meditating or simply being near the ocean. At least it would be a perfect time, except for the presence of huge noisy tractors plowing the beach. Thursday morning I had to wait for two to lumber past before I could get to the beach. These behemoths pulled rigs but were not plowing. They seemed, aside from their built-in annoyance factor, to serve no purpose but loudly leaving large tracks in the sand. Still, they rolled on. A third was plowing, as usual. Today the earnest plowman even went up among the exercise equipment where people exercise south of the pier — or would, if they hadn’t a tractor to dodge.

There aren’t a lot of places where one can escape close proximity to noisy vehicles in our city. The beach used to be one of them. Aside from the noise, these tractors (a) use a lot of gas and (b) belch a bunch of exhaust into what should be some of the cleaner air in Southern California, that at the beach.

Here in “sustainable,” environmentally conscious Santa Monica, has any study ever been done regarding the tractors’ environmental impact? For that matter, has anyone ever bothered to ask people who use the beach if their beach experience is enhanced or degraded by the tractors’ presence? Is it possible that a natural beach might be preferable to many? I may be a minority of one in even noticing, but given the surprising number of people — fellow citizens and taxpayers, I’d guess — at the beach between 6 and 7:30 a.m., I’ll bet I’m not.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 12, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121205.pdf?ref=smdp.com)