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BBC News
23-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
The Bitcoin hum that is unsettling Trump's MAGA heartlands
Dresden is in New York's Finger Lakes region – a rural area sliced through with deep glacial lakes, which attracts tourists drawn by its wineries, breweries and outdoor pursuits. In Yates County, home to Dresden and the Greenidge plant, around 60% of voters picked Trump last November. According to the owners of the mine, Greenidge Generation, anywhere from 40 to 120 Bitcoin a month are being produced at the plant, along with some energy that flows back to the grid. The company – which turned down requests for an interview – has argued that they converted a coal-burning operation into a relatively cleaner gas-fired power installation that complies with state environmental laws. But amid public concern, New York state and Greenidge are currently engaged in a protracted legal battle over the plant's future. With some of the strictest environmental laws in the country, New York officials are challenging whether the gas-fired plant is permitted under the regulations that allowed the old coal plant. Power generation – and Bitcoin mining – has been allowed to continue during appeal proceedings. Abi Buddington, who owns a house in Dresden and has been at the forefront of the fight against the crypto mine, says it has become a big issue locally. "The climate changed, both environmentally as well as in our quiet little community," she says, recalling raised voices at contentious town hall meetings. Ms Buddington is trying to change minds in Dresden and, through her network, elsewhere around the country. "There are some who are environmentally concerned, and who may be Republican-leaning," she says. "What we've found nationally is even in red states, once elected officials are educated properly and know the harms, they are very opposed." But not all are convinced. "They've been a good corporate neighbour," says Dresden's recently elected mayor, Brian Flynn, about the mine. "I'm pro-business, whether it be Greenidge or local agriculture… I think it's important to have a mix of both industry and recreation."
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The loud hum sparking unrest in Trump's MAGA heartlands
For the last five years, a loud hum has been a continual backdrop to birdsong and the occasional barking dog in the village of Dresden, New York state. Coming from the nearby Greenidge Generation power plant, which had been mothballed for years before, the sound has angered some local people. "It's an annoyance," says Ellen Campbell, who owns a house on Seneca Lake a short distance away. "If I sit out by the lake, I would rather not hear that. "We didn't sign up for the constant hum." The issue here in Dresden, a village of about 300 people surrounded by winding country roads, single-track rail lines and farms growing grapes and hops, sounds like a familiar story about the tension between nature-loving locals and economic development. But their annoyance is also a signal of something less expected – policies of US President Donald Trump meeting resistance from people in the rural areas whose votes drove his return to the White House. And the cause? Bitcoin mining. An energy-intensive process that relies on powerful computers to create and protect the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin mining has grown rapidly in the country over recent years. The current administration, unlike Joe Biden's, is intent on encouraging the industry. Trump has said he wants to turn the US into the crypto-mining capital of the world, announcing in June 2024 that "we want all the remaining Bitcoin to be made in the USA". This has implications for rural communities throughout the US – many of whom voted for Trump. Installations like the one at the power plant near Dresden are appearing across the country, drawn by record-high cryptocurrency prices and cheap and abundant energy to power the computers that do the mining. There are at least 137 Bitcoin mines in the US across 21 states, and reports indicate there are many more planned. According to estimates by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Bitcoin mining uses up to 2.3% of the nation's grid. The high energy use and its wider environmental impact is certainly causing some concern in Dresden. But it's the unmistakable hum that is the soundtrack for discontent in many places with Bitcoin mines - produced by the fans used to cool the computers, it can range from a mechanical whirr to a deafening din. "We can hear a constant buzzing," says another Dresden resident, Lori Fishline. "It's a constant, loud humming noise that you just can't ignore. It was never present before and has definitely affected the peaceful atmosphere of our bay." Such is Ms Campbell's annoyance with Trump's Bitcoin backing, her political allegiance to the Republicans is being tested. "Right now I'm not real happy about that party," she says. The conflict in Seneca Lake is being played out nationwide, which could pose problems for a White House intent on pursuing a pro-cryptocurrency agenda. A little over 300 miles west of Dresden, a backlash in the US border town of Niagara Falls prompted the local Mayor Robert Restaino - a Democrat - to issue a moratorium on new mining activity in December 2021, and the following year noise limits of 40 to 50 decibels near residential areas were imposed. He said: "The noise pollution of this industry is like nothing else." Locals described the sound as similar to that of a 747 jet, or as grating as having a toothache 24 hours a day, claiming that the noise drowned out the sound of the nearby waterfalls. And in Granbury, Texas, a 24ft-high sound barrier was erected in 2023 at a mining site after residents complained to public officials that the nonstop roar was keeping them awake and giving them migraines. All these Bitcoin operations opened before Trump's return to the White House. But the opposition they have generated suggests public officials in Republican-voting areas are likely to find themselves coming under continued pressure from local people who oppose further Bitcoin mining expansion. If this happens, could Trump's crypto dreams be derailed in his own backyard? Less than four years ago, Trump said Bitcoin "just seems like a scam". Yet those reservations have now gone: the Trump family has since started the crypto firm World Liberty Financial, and Trump launched his own cryptocurrency, $TRUMP – 220 of its top buyers were invited to a private gala dinner with the president on Thursday. Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr are behind a crypto mining venture called American Bitcoin, which plans to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange, and aims to build one of the world's largest and most efficient Bitcoin mining platforms, rooted in American soil. Bitcoin mining has boomed in the US partly because of a crackdown in China in 2021, which was due to concerns over its environmental damage. Alexander Neumueller, an expert at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Alternative Finance, says that although it's hard to trace every last mine, it's clear that the US is now the leading Bitcoin producer, mining about 40% of the world's supply. Dresden is in New York's Finger Lakes region – a rural area sliced through with deep glacial lakes, which attracts tourists drawn by its wineries, breweries and outdoor pursuits. In Yates County, home to Dresden and the Greenidge plant, around 60% of voters picked Trump last November. According to the owners of the mine, Greenidge Generation, anywhere from 40 to 120 Bitcoin a month are being produced at the plant, along with some energy that flows back to the grid. The company – which turned down requests for an interview – has argued that they converted a coal-burning operation into a relatively cleaner gas-fired power installation that complies with state environmental laws. But amid public concern, New York state and Greenidge are currently engaged in a protracted legal battle over the plant's future. With some of the strictest environmental laws in the country, New York officials are challenging whether the gas-fired plant is permitted under the regulations that allowed the old coal plant. Power generation – and Bitcoin mining – has been allowed to continue during appeal proceedings. Abi Buddington, who owns a house in Dresden and has been at the forefront of the fight against the crypto mine, says it has become a big issue locally. "The climate changed, both environmentally as well as in our quiet little community," she says, recalling raised voices at contentious town hall meetings. Ms Buddington is trying to change minds in Dresden and, through her network, elsewhere around the country. "There are some who are environmentally concerned, and who may be Republican-leaning," she says. "What we've found nationally is even in red states, once elected officials are educated properly and know the harms, they are very opposed." But not all are convinced. "They've been a good corporate neighbour," says Dresden's recently elected mayor, Brian Flynn, about the mine. "I'm pro-business, whether it be Greenidge or local agriculture… I think it's important to have a mix of both industry and recreation." Legal battles like the one in Seneca Lake are bringing home the realities of an industry that at first glance might seem contained to banks of data servers, removed from the real world. Bitcoin "miners" – who are not actually extracting anything from the earth – verify transactions by solving extremely difficult cryptographic problems that require powerful computers. In return, they are rewarded with Bitcoin. As the price of Bitcoin has shot up to its current value of around $100,000 (£75,000), ever-increasing amounts of computing power have been needed to win crypto rewards, shutting out smaller miners in favour of large collectives and companies. As well as the hum, mining's energy use has environmental impacts. A Harvard study published in March in the peer-reviewed science journal Nature Communications found that Bitcoin mining exposes millions of Americans to harmful air pollution each year - and that 34 Bitcoin mines consumed a third more electricity than the city of LA. (There was some pushback from the crypto industry to the study, which was called The environmental burden of the United States' Bitcoin mining boom.) According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, mining globally uses approximately 0.7% of global electricity consumption. That has a knock-on effect on local energy prices, which is also provoking a backlash in some areas. In 2017, Bitcoin miners flooded into Plattsburgh, New York – a city of about 20,000 people a couple of hours to the north of Dresden – because of cheap hydroelectricity rates. "We were getting Bitcoin applications from operators all around the world," says the city's mayor at the time, Colin Read. Yet they used so much power that electricity rates shot up. Within a year, some residents were paying up to 40% more during winter months, Read says. The following year, he and other local lawmakers passed rules against buildings blasting out hot air. "Fortunately we put a stop to it," he says, noting that all but one Bitcoin mining operation left the city. Resistance to Bitcoin mines extends to places with the biggest Trump support. Cyndie Roberson was retired and unaware of the crypto industry until a Bitcoin mining operation moved to her small town in North Carolina in 2021. The locals banded together and managed to ban new Bitcoin developments in their area - but the existing one was allowed to stay and the bitterness of the fight made her decide to move south, to Gilmer County in Georgia. There, Ms Roberson has campaigned against crypto mining in a region that is solidly pro-Republican. In the county where she lives, she says that around 1,000 people came to a public meeting to oppose a mine, which then wasn't allowed to operate. Just north of Gilmer, the Fannin County Commission has enacted a ban on crypto mining, while a Georgian commission representing 18 primarily rural counties has published advice on how to restrict the development of Bitcoin mines. "When you're in my backyard, when you're in my town, trying to wreck our property and our peace, people will tell you, it's a hard 'no'," says Ms Roberson. Although 80% of local people backed Trump last November, that support doesn't appear to stop people opposing one of his key crypto goals. The Trump administration is not planning to do away with all regulations around crypto mining - but it is ready to actively help companies open power plants next to the mines. In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine in April, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said: "We're going to make it so that if you want to mine Bitcoin, and you find the right place to do it, you can build your own power plant next to it," going on to argue that such projects would stop "these stories about 'You're taking too much power and now the cost of operating my refrigerator is higher'." "The next generation of miners in America will be able to control their destiny, control the cost of power, and I think that is going to turbocharge Bitcoin mining in America," Lutnick told the magazine. According to Zack Shapiro, head of policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, a US think tank that researches emerging monetary networks, that process has already begun. "There are states that are passing laws specifically prohibiting municipalities from banning Bitcoin mines," he says. "It's a mechanism by which mining companies can fight back." And the nature of Bitcoin mining means that, if it meets resistance, it can quickly move on to somewhere more favourable. When Colin Read tackled the mines in Plattsburgh, he saw how easily they could change location. "This industry is really footloose," he said. "When we told these companies they couldn't have more power without going through hoops, they packed up and went to a community where they didn't have such strict requirements." Local opposition is not Trump's only challenge. Could the sea, for example, be a better location for Bitcoin mining? Mr Shapiro believes that, with miners looking for the lowest cost, they could turn to leftover renewable energy that can't be used by other applications. "Wind power in the ocean can't be used to power a city, but you can set up an offshore platform that captures offshore wind and tidal energy, and use that to mine Bitcoin – because there's not another buyer to use that energy, it's probably ultimately where Bitcoin mining operations move." It could also be that in the cryptocurrency race, Bitcoin might not be the best bet. Read - who is an energy economist - is sceptical about the staying power of energy-intensive Bitcoin because he believes other more efficient alternatives are going to emerge. With the White House egging on the industry, fights over Bitcoin mining will inevitably play out in smaller forums, in state and local governments and tiny places like Dresden. But one constant in the short history of Bitcoin has been volatility. It might be boom times now – yet a downturn in the price, shifts in energy sources and changing crypto needs could fundamentally reshape the Bitcoin mining landscape, no matter how much Trump wants to keep it in the US. Trump's frantic week of peace brokering hints at what he really wants The secretive US factory that lays bare the contradiction in Trump's America First plan Gold is booming - but investors lured in by the hype could lose out, warn experts Top picture credit: Getty Images BBC InDepth is the new home on the website and app for the best analysis and expertise from our top journalists. Under a distinctive new brand, we'll bring you fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions, and deep reporting on the biggest issues to help you make sense of a complex world. And we'll be showcasing thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. We're starting small but thinking big, and we want to know what you think - you can send us your feedback by clicking on the button below.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
The loud hum sparking unrest in Trump's MAGA heartlands
For the last five years, a loud hum has been a continual backdrop to birdsong and the occasional barking dog in the village of Dresden, New York from the nearby Greenidge Generation power plant, which had been mothballed for years before, the sound has angered some local people."It's an annoyance," says Ellen Campbell, who owns a house on Seneca Lake a short distance away. "If I sit out by the lake, I would rather not hear that."We didn't sign up for the constant hum."The issue here in Dresden, a village of about 300 people surrounded by winding country roads, single-track rail lines and farms growing grapes and hops, sounds like a familiar story about the tension between nature-loving locals and economic their annoyance is also a signal of something less expected – policies of US President Donald Trump meeting resistance from people in the rural areas whose votes drove his return to the White the cause? Bitcoin energy-intensive process that relies on powerful computers to create and protect the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin mining has grown rapidly in the country over recent years. The current administration, unlike Joe Biden's, is intent on encouraging the has said he wants to turn the US into the crypto-mining capital of the world, announcing in June 2024 that "we want all the remaining Bitcoin to be made in the USA". This has implications for rural communities throughout the US – many of whom voted for Trump. Installations like the one at the power plant near Dresden are appearing across the country, drawn by record-high cryptocurrency prices and cheap and abundant energy to power the computers that do the mining. There are at least 137 Bitcoin mines in the US across 21 states, and reports indicate there are many more planned. According to estimates by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Bitcoin mining uses up to 2.3% of the nation's high energy use and its wider environmental impact is certainly causing some concern in it's the unmistakable hum that is the soundtrack for discontent in many places with Bitcoin mines - produced by the fans used to cool the computers, it can range from a mechanical whirr to a deafening din. "We can hear a constant buzzing," says another Dresden resident, Lori Fishline. "It's a constant, loud humming noise that you just can't ignore. It was never present before and has definitely affected the peaceful atmosphere of our bay."Such is Ms Campbell's annoyance with Trump's Bitcoin backing, her political allegiance to the Republicans is being tested. "Right now I'm not real happy about that party," she says. Backlash in Trump's backyard The conflict in Seneca Lake is being played out nationwide, which could pose problems for a White House intent on pursuing a pro-cryptocurrency agenda.A little over 300 miles west of Dresden, a backlash in the US border town of Niagara Falls prompted the local Mayor Robert Restaino - a Democrat - to issue a moratorium on new mining activity in December 2021, and the following year noise limits of 40 to 50 decibels near residential areas were imposed. He said: "The noise pollution of this industry is like nothing else."Locals described the sound as similar to that of a 747 jet, or as grating as having a toothache 24 hours a day, claiming that the noise drowned out the sound of the nearby in Granbury, Texas, a 24ft-high sound barrier was erected in 2023 at a mining site after residents complained to public officials that the nonstop roar was keeping them awake and giving them these Bitcoin operations opened before Trump's return to the White House. But the opposition they have generated suggests public officials in Republican-voting areas are likely to find themselves coming under continued pressure from local people who oppose further Bitcoin mining this happens, could Trump's crypto dreams be derailed in his own backyard? Trump's crypto U-turn Less than four years ago, Trump said Bitcoin "just seems like a scam". Yet those reservations have now gone: the Trump family has since started the crypto firm World Liberty Financial, and Trump launched his own cryptocurrency, $TRUMP – 220 of its top buyers were invited to a private gala dinner with the president on Thursday. Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr are behind a crypto mining venture called American Bitcoin, which plans to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange, and aims to build one of the world's largest and most efficient Bitcoin mining platforms, rooted in American mining has boomed in the US partly because of a crackdown in China in 2021, which was due to concerns over its environmental damage. Alexander Neumueller, an expert at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Alternative Finance, says that although it's hard to trace every last mine, it's clear that the US is now the leading Bitcoin producer, mining about 40% of the world's supply. From village halls to state legal battles Dresden is in New York's Finger Lakes region – a rural area sliced through with deep glacial lakes, which attracts tourists drawn by its wineries, breweries and outdoor pursuits. In Yates County, home to Dresden and the Greenidge plant, around 60% of voters picked Trump last to the owners of the mine, Greenidge Generation, anywhere from 40 to 120 Bitcoin a month are being produced at the plant, along with some energy that flows back to the grid. The company – which turned down requests for an interview – has argued that they converted a coal-burning operation into a relatively cleaner gas-fired power installation that complies with state environmental amid public concern, New York state and Greenidge are currently engaged in a protracted legal battle over the plant's future. With some of the strictest environmental laws in the country, New York officials are challenging whether the gas-fired plant is permitted under the regulations that allowed the old coal plant. Power generation – and Bitcoin mining – has been allowed to continue during appeal Buddington, who owns a house in Dresden and has been at the forefront of the fight against the crypto mine, says it has become a big issue locally."The climate changed, both environmentally as well as in our quiet little community," she says, recalling raised voices at contentious town hall meetings. Ms Buddington is trying to change minds in Dresden and, through her network, elsewhere around the country."There are some who are environmentally concerned, and who may be Republican-leaning," she says. "What we've found nationally is even in red states, once elected officials are educated properly and know the harms, they are very opposed."But not all are convinced. "They've been a good corporate neighbour," says Dresden's recently elected mayor, Brian Flynn, about the mine. "I'm pro-business, whether it be Greenidge or local agriculture… I think it's important to have a mix of both industry and recreation." Real-world impacts of crypto Legal battles like the one in Seneca Lake are bringing home the realities of an industry that at first glance might seem contained to banks of data servers, removed from the real "miners" – who are not actually extracting anything from the earth – verify transactions by solving extremely difficult cryptographic problems that require powerful computers. In return, they are rewarded with Bitcoin. As the price of Bitcoin has shot up to its current value of around $100,000 (£75,000), ever-increasing amounts of computing power have been needed to win crypto rewards, shutting out smaller miners in favour of large collectives and well as the hum, mining's energy use has environmental impacts. A Harvard study published in March in the peer-reviewed science journal Nature Communications found that Bitcoin mining exposes millions of Americans to harmful air pollution each year - and that 34 Bitcoin mines consumed a third more electricity than the city of LA. (There was some pushback from the crypto industry to the study, which was called The environmental burden of the United States' Bitcoin mining boom.)According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, mining globally uses approximately 0.7% of global electricity consumption. That has a knock-on effect on local energy prices, which is also provoking a backlash in some 2017, Bitcoin miners flooded into Plattsburgh, New York – a city of about 20,000 people a couple of hours to the north of Dresden – because of cheap hydroelectricity rates. "We were getting Bitcoin applications from operators all around the world," says the city's mayor at the time, Colin they used so much power that electricity rates shot up. Within a year, some residents were paying up to 40% more during winter months, Read following year, he and other local lawmakers passed rules against buildings blasting out hot air."Fortunately we put a stop to it," he says, noting that all but one Bitcoin mining operation left the city. Opposition in Maga heartlands Resistance to Bitcoin mines extends to places with the biggest Trump Roberson was retired and unaware of the crypto industry until a Bitcoin mining operation moved to her small town in North Carolina in 2021. The locals banded together and managed to ban new Bitcoin developments in their area - but the existing one was allowed to stay and the bitterness of the fight made her decide to move south, to Gilmer County in Ms Roberson has campaigned against crypto mining in a region that is solidly pro-Republican. In the county where she lives, she says that around 1,000 people came to a public meeting to oppose a mine, which then wasn't allowed to operate. Just north of Gilmer, the Fannin County Commission has enacted a ban on crypto mining, while a Georgian commission representing 18 primarily rural counties has published advice on how to restrict the development of Bitcoin mines."When you're in my backyard, when you're in my town, trying to wreck our property and our peace, people will tell you, it's a hard 'no'," says Ms 80% of local people backed Trump last November, that support doesn't appear to stop people opposing one of his key crypto goals. 'You can build your own power plant' The Trump administration is not planning to do away with all regulations around crypto mining - but it is ready to actively help companies open power plants next to the an interview with Bitcoin Magazine in April, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said: "We're going to make it so that if you want to mine Bitcoin, and you find the right place to do it, you can build your own power plant next to it," going on to argue that such projects would stop "these stories about 'You're taking too much power and now the cost of operating my refrigerator is higher'." "The next generation of miners in America will be able to control their destiny, control the cost of power, and I think that is going to turbocharge Bitcoin mining in America," Lutnick told the to Zack Shapiro, head of policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, a US think tank that researches emerging monetary networks, that process has already begun. "There are states that are passing laws specifically prohibiting municipalities from banning Bitcoin mines," he says. "It's a mechanism by which mining companies can fight back."And the nature of Bitcoin mining means that, if it meets resistance, it can quickly move on to somewhere more Colin Read tackled the mines in Plattsburgh, he saw how easily they could change location."This industry is really footloose," he said. "When we told these companies they couldn't have more power without going through hoops, they packed up and went to a community where they didn't have such strict requirements." Offshore mines of the future? Local opposition is not Trump's only challenge. Could the sea, for example, be a better location for Bitcoin mining?Mr Shapiro believes that, with miners looking for the lowest cost, they could turn to leftover renewable energy that can't be used by other applications. "Wind power in the ocean can't be used to power a city, but you can set up an offshore platform that captures offshore wind and tidal energy, and use that to mine Bitcoin – because there's not another buyer to use that energy, it's probably ultimately where Bitcoin mining operations move."It could also be that in the cryptocurrency race, Bitcoin might not be the best bet. Read - who is an energy economist - is sceptical about the staying power of energy-intensive Bitcoin because he believes other more efficient alternatives are going to the White House egging on the industry, fights over Bitcoin mining will inevitably play out in smaller forums, in state and local governments and tiny places like one constant in the short history of Bitcoin has been volatility. It might be boom times now – yet a downturn in the price, shifts in energy sources and changing crypto needs could fundamentally reshape the Bitcoin mining landscape, no matter how much Trump wants to keep it in the US. Top picture credit: Getty Images BBC InDepth is the new home on the website and app for the best analysis and expertise from our top journalists. Under a distinctive new brand, we'll bring you fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions, and deep reporting on the biggest issues to help you make sense of a complex world. And we'll be showcasing thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. We're starting small but thinking big, and we want to know what you think - you can send us your feedback by clicking on the button below.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Residents reveal nightmare caused by massive tech facility near homes: 'Like a jet engine that never leaves'
Bitcoin mining operations are turning quiet rural areas across America into industrial zones, bringing noise and pollution to communities from New York's Finger Lakes to small towns in North Carolina, The New Republic reported. Bitcoin mining is the energy-intensive process that creates new bitcoin cryptocurrency. Miners use thousands of computer rigs that operate 24/7, solving complex puzzles to earn new coins. These facilities require massive amounts of electricity and water as well as industrial-sized fans for cooling that create persistent noise. Bitcoin mining presents serious environmental challenges due to its enormous resource demands. These operations consumed about 70 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023, more than the entire state of New Jersey used that year, according to U.S. Department of Energy data cited by The New Republic. The impact affects more than just energy use. Near Dresden, New York, the Greenidge Generation crypto mine emitted more than 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide in 2024. Nationwide, bitcoin mines, primarily powered by dirty fuels, use 2% of the country's electricity. "I think this is going to mean increased impacts on local communities that we've seen across the country," said Mandy DeRoche, deputy managing attorney at the Clean Energy Program at Earthjustice, in anticipation of even more bitcoin mines opening. The health impacts on nearby residents are substantial. In Granbury, Texas, residents are suing a bitcoin mining company over noise pollution they claim is causing hearing loss and migraines. Cyndie Roberson bought her dream cabin on North Carolina's Hiwassee River in 2020. A year later, she was battling constant noise from a nearby bitcoin mine. "It's like a jet engine that never leaves," she told The New Republic. "It is a low-frequency hum, and that low frequency, I've learned, is far more irritating to human beings." Her experience aligns with research showing that chronic noise exposure is troublesome. It can increase risks of cardiovascular disease. Ultimately, the stress drove Roberson to sell her home and move. Do you worry about air pollution in and around your home? Yes — always Yes — often Yes — sometimes No — never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Residents are fighting back through organizing and legal challenges, as The New Republic detailed. In Murphy, North Carolina, Roberson's advocacy group secured a ban on new crypto mines. Environmental groups in New York are challenging mines through the state's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. In Seneca Lake, advocates sued Greenidge Generation over its pollution. "It has been absolutely exhausting and infuriating to deal with a company that refuses to accept the law," said Yvonne Taylor, a Seneca Lake resident and member of Seneca Lake Guardian. With limited federal regulations and recent policy shifts favoring cryptocurrency expansion, local action has become increasingly important. "We can't expect protection from the federal government. We're going to protect ourselves," said Deb Gondek, who lives near a crypto mine in New York that also increased electricity costs for area residents. While the industry claims to be shifting toward cleaner energy sources, mining cryptocurrency remains an energy-intensive process. For affected communities, the issue crosses political divides. "Nationally, it's going to get worse," Roberson said. "But in our hometowns and our counties, maybe in our states, we can change things." Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
What It's Like to Live in a Small Town Polluted by a Cryptomine
The Finger Lakes region of New York is known for its green forests, limestone cliffs, miles of wineries, and, of course, the 11 uniquely shaped lakes said to have been formed, in Native American legend, by the hand of the Great Spirit. The area is a refuge from the state's bustling lower half, and driving through it is quiet and serene—that is, until you reach the northwest shores of Seneca Lake, where you'll start to hear a low humming sound. Right next to the town of Dresden, New York, lies Greenidge Generation, a power plant turned bitcoin mine that operates 24/7 and emitted more than 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, in an otherwise immaculate region known for its agriculture and tourism. Local environmental advocacy groups have been engaged in a never-ending lawsuit with the cryptomine over its air pollution, which they claim isn't consistent with New York's 2019 climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA. The CLCPA commits the state to 100 percent zero-emission electricity by 2040 and to being entirely off fossil fuels by 2050. 'We have deep ties to the region, and I've always considered it the one constant I've ever had in an otherwise pretty tumultuous life, which is why I feel so strongly about protecting it,' said Seneca Lake resident Yvonne Taylor, who is a member of Seneca Lake Guardian, one of the groups represented in the lawsuit. The Finger Lakes is just one of many regions across the country that have been impacted by nearby bitcoin mines. In Granbury, Texas, residents are suing Marathon Digital Holdings, alleging that noise pollution from its bitcoin mine is causing hearing loss, migraines, and vertigo. In Montana, cryptomining is extending the life of a coal-fired power plant as greenhouse gases continue to rise in one of the state's poorest counties. In Pennsylvania, an environmental group is suing a bitcoin mine for allegedly burning waste coal and old tires to power its operations, polluting the region with harmful chemicals. Nationwide, bitcoin mines—the majority of which are powered by dirty fossil fuels—use 2 percent of the country's electricity and, according to one recent estimate, may be consuming as much water per year as the city of Washington, D.C. Under President Donald Trump, who has promised to make the United States the 'crypto capital of the planet,' bitcoin's impact on the climate and communities may only grow. In the 2024 election, the cryptocurrency industry spent millions lobbying in support of Trump and other pro-crypto politicians, simultaneously ousting some of Washington's strongest crypto hard-liners. Bolstered by millions from investors, Trump has become a champion for the decentralized currency he previously called a 'scam,' vowing to ensure all remaining bitcoin will be 'made in the USA.' On March 6, the president signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, creating a government-owned stockpile of bitcoin that can be released in times of crisis. The guardrails are down. Whereas Joe Biden and his administration favored more aggressive oversight of the industry—vetoing a number of crypto-friendly bills, proposing a strict cryptomining tax, and ordering the government to examine the risks of digital currency—Trump and some 300 members of Congress welcome crypto, particularly bitcoin, with open arms. All signs point to an influx of mines in the coming years. 'I think this is gonna mean increased impacts on local communities that we've seen across the country,' Mandy DeRoche, the deputy managing attorney at the Clean Energy Program at Earthjustice, said of Trump's election. Bitcoin is a particular type of cryptocurrency known as 'proof of work,' or PoW, that is incredibly energy intensive to produce. To access bitcoin, miners use thousands of individual computers, known as rigs, that race to solve complex puzzles required to receive new coins. Rigs operate 24/7 and require a massive amount of electricity and water to operate, as well as industrial-size fans to stay cool. Thousands of fans going at once is loud, to put it lightly. In 2020, Cyndie Roberson and her husband bought their dream cabin on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, North Carolina. Like the Finger Lakes, Cherokee County is a picturesque, serene region filled with vast forests and lakes, a refuge Roberson had always dreamed of settling in. But just a year after she moved, she and her neighbors began to hear what sounded like a plane sitting on a tarmac waiting for take off. 'It's like a jet engine that never leaves,' Roberson said. 'It is a low-frequency hum, and that low frequency, I've learned, is far more irritating to human beings. It does something inside your brain.' A growing body of research shows that chronic noise triggers a number of reactions in the brain and body, which can lead to increased risks of cardiovascular disease. Roberson and her neighbors eventually discovered the noise was coming from a bitcoin mine owned by the California-based company PrimeBlock, in the nearby town of Murphy. She says they weren't aware the mine was starting up but were immediately affected by it. Forced to endure the tangible impacts of a volatile digital currency that benefits just a handful of crypto magnates, Roberson and her neighbors educated themselves on bitcoin and fought to shut down PrimeBlock's operation. Roberson co-founded the advocacy group Cherokee County Citizens Against Crypto Mining, spoke at public hearings, and compiled more than 3,000 signatures for a petition to ban cryptomines in the area. Her interactions with the company's employees were limited but memorable. She recalled one interaction with a PrimeBlock employee. 'We're going to use seven times more power than that Walmart does. Heck, we might even use more than the whole county,' Roberson recalled him saying. PrimeBlock did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. In North Carolina, there are few reporting requirements for cryptomines, and PrimeBlock isn't a publicly traded company, so there is little data on its energy use and emissions. Nationwide, however, bitcoin mines used an estimated 70 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023—more than the state of New Jersey used that year, according to a report from the Department of Energy. It's a particularly concerning stat given that, amid the accelerating climate crisis, electricity demand is rising for the first time in 20 years and our existing grid is vastly underprepared. Cherokee County Citizens Against Crypto Mining's advocacy efforts eventually led to a ban on all new cryptomines in Murphy, North Carolina, where PrimeBlock is located. It was a huge win for the future of the county, but existing mines like PrimeBlock were permitted to keep operating. Driven by stress, Roberson eventually sold her dream cabin in North Carolina, as did the five other co-founders of the group. 'We are the fortunate ones, because we can flee,' Roberson said. In 2021, the U.S. saw a digital gold rush after China, previously the world's largest producer of crypto, banned cryptomining in 2021. Miners are particularly drawn to regions like Texas and Georgia in the South and upstate New York in the Northeast, where there is plenty of space and cheap energy access. In just a few years, America's global cryptomine share went from 3.5 percent to 38 percent—far from Trump's 100 percent goal but enough to produce 1.5 million tons of CO2 annually. Bitcoin miners often enter communities with the same age-old tale as other polluting industries: the promise of jobs, economic prosperity, and a renewed sense of purpose for the area. But a lot of bitcoin mines are fully automated, and the facilities themselves staff few people other than the odd security guard or administrative aide. Taylor in Seneca Lake says her interactions with Greenidge Generation have been exhausting. The organization she's part of, Seneca Lake Guardian, has been in a turbulent legal battle with the company. In June 2022, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, or DEC, denied Greenidge's application to renew its air permit under the Clean Air Act Title V, considering 'the dramatic increase in greenhouse gas emissions from the facility since the passage of the Climate Act.' The denial was upheld twice after Greenidge appealed the decision. 'Rather than solely providing energy to the state's electricity grid, the power plant now primarily provides energy behind-the-meter to support the demands of Greenidge's energy-intensive proof of work cryptocurrency mining operations,' the DEC said in a statement at the time. In August 2024, Greenidge filed a lawsuit against the DEC in the State Supreme Court of Yates County, alleging the agency 'weaponized' the CLCPA to deny its air permit. The environmental law group Earthjustice won a motion to intervene in the case on behalf of the local environmental groups, including Seneca Lake Guardian. The Yates County judge ruled that the DEC does in fact have the power to deny air permits to operations inconsistent with the CLCPA, but that the agency's ruling must be supported by justified analysis, allowing Greenidge to return to the DEC and present further evidence in defense of its operations. 'The Climate Act did not give DEC the power to rewrite a statute and unilaterally decide for themselves the value of working-class New Yorkers' jobs,' Greenidge Generation president Dale Irwin said in an email statement to The New Republic. 'When actual judges review the issues—not advocacy groups—the facts and law actually govern, and our record is clear: we comply with state and federal law. They unlawfully tried to bring about a virtue-signaling result: to shut down a facility with no material impact on reaching statewide climate goals, and one that actually offered significant emissions mitigation that the state flatly ignored. Our facility shows this region can create future-focused jobs and economic activity, fully consistent with the Climate Act's aims.' Greenidge filed an emergency request to delay the DEC hearing, which Earthjustice opposed. The case is ongoing, but Greenidge is permitted to operate as long as the DEC hearing remains delayed. 'It has been absolutely exhausting and infuriating to deal with a company that refuses to accept the law and continues to fight,' Taylor said. 'As long as they've got the money to keep delaying, they can continue operating and continuing to harm not only our community but our climate statewide.' Just two hours from Seneca Lake, an almost identical case is unfolding in North Tonawanda, New York. In 2021, a Canadian cryptomining company, Digihost Technology, bought an old peaking power plant and turned it into a bitcoin mine just a mile from the center of town. Digihost's presentation to residents and the town council was nothing new: It promised jobs and economic benefits. One local official said turning away Digihost would be 'like saying no to Google,' recalled Deb Gondek, who lives near the cryptomine. The mine has led to increased electricity costs for residents, local air pollution, and never-ending noise that forces some residents to wear headphones day and night. Earthjustice is intervening on similar grounds (that the sale of the peaker plant is inconsistent with CLCPA targets), but this case will likely face a similar cycle of never-ending appeals. Digihost did not respond to requests for comment for this story. On January 23, Trump passed an executive order 'to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy,' which includes the ability to mine cryptocurrency without prosecution. Some states have already passed the Blockchain Basics Act, a bill introduced by the dark money, pro-crypto group the Satoshi Action Fund, which has connections to the Koch Network and the Heritage Foundation, The Lever reported last month. The bill essentially strips the ability of local authorities and the public utilities commission to regulate cryptomining—a vital tool communities have in protecting themselves when federal regulation is weak. The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Trump has now ordered is another Satoshi Action Fund–backed idea. As The Lever pointed out, the reserve helps legitimize bitcoin and could ultimately lead to a massive price boost at the expense of taxpayers and the climate. State bitcoin reserves have also been proposed in Ohio, Florida, Alabama, North Dakota, and others. Given all the pro-crypto actions the Trump administration has already taken, Gondek of North Tonawanda says local action and widespread education matters more than ever. 'We can't expect protection from the federal government. We're going to protect ourselves,' she said. Roberson, who is now advocating against cryptomines in her new home of Gilmer County, Georgia, agrees, and says she hopes that the political divide doesn't prevent communities from working together on what she calls an 'absolutely nonpartisan' issue. 'Nationally, it's going to get worse,' she said. 'But in our hometowns and our counties, maybe in our states, we can change things.'
