DENVER — A local startup is hoping to help Colorado communities live with drilling in their backyards. The company has built a sound wall to block more than just sound.
Heidi Gill, who is the CEO of Urban Solution Group, is the brains behind the sound-proof walls.
“I went to a fabricator with a piece of binder and showed them the design and said this what I want to make and they looked at me like I was a little crazy,” said Gill.
But Gill says the fabricator out of Colorado Springs turned her vision into a reality.
The walls are made of high-end acoustic material that blocks noise, dust, and light.
So far, she has rented to oil and gas companies, and she's now doubling her manufacturing.
Gill says it's her way of easing conflict in communities where fracking operations are common.
"Urban does believe that you can have socially compatible development and use these technologies and you can co-exist,” said Gill.
This couple, who live near a fracking site, says the walls still aren't enough.
“It's so loud the dogs get up and go in the house, and we can't even talk to each other out here it's so loud, like a jet engine,” said one resident.
Gill says the walls don't silence all the noise but reduce it significantly. She says they are built to cut sound by 10 decibels, which would equate to essentially cutting the noise in half, as far as what the human ear could hear.
Gill says they are currently working on creating more products to tackle the issues residents have with fracking and drilling happening nearby.
Gill is hoping her three-people business is helping find more innovative solutions to a Colorado reality.