New York firms ask governor to deny crypto mining permits

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New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has been asked by a group of local businesses to deny permits to convert the city’s old fossil-fueled power plants into crypto mining hubs. The request is in the form of a letter co-signed by a number of organizations, businesses and trade union groups.

The letter calls for an EA for the Proof-of-Work cryptocurrency mining in the NYS while urging Governor Hochul to deny permits to convert the Greenidge plant and the Fortistar North Tonawanda power plants into facilities for ‘crypto mining:

Proof-of-Work cryptocurrency mining uses huge amounts of energy to power the computers needed to conduct business.

The proposal highlighted the inefficiencies of PoW authentication and suggests that refueling fossil-fueled power plants would seriously jeopardize states’ progress and fulfillment of mandates to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. .

The companies also cited NYS commissioner Basil Seggos of the Department of Environmental Conservation as saying Greenidge had failed to demonstrate compliance with New York’s climate law.

NYS is taking action on #ClimateChange. Today, @NYSDEC posted for public comment the proposed air permits for the former coal-fired power plant turned into a bitcoin mine, Greenidge LLC. The DEC has not made a final decision on the permits and Greenidge has not demonstrated compliance with the NY climate law./1 pic.twitter.com/PKozYCUIeQ

– Basil Seggos (@BasilSeggos) September 8, 2021

Citing the need for a full environmental assessment linked to greenhouse gas emissions, the letter calls on the Hochuls administration to deny Title V air permits for the two fossil fuel facilities.

Related: Russia Considering New Energy Tariffs As Chinese Crypto Miners Move

On the other side of the world, Russian authorities are considering introducing special electricity tariffs for recently relocated Chinese cryptocurrency miners.

On October 13, Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov suggested a new energy consumption framework to differentiate tariffs between general use and cryptocurrency mining, saying:

We cannot let miners capitalize on the situation at the expense of low residential electricity prices.

According to research by the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), Bitcoin (BTC) energy consumption will remain below 0.5% of the global total over the next decade. The study also suggests that Bitcoin’s carbon footprint will depend on fluctuations in the price of Bitcoin, mining difficulties, and energy consumption.

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