Finger Lakes Bitcoin mining sparks local concerns

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A gas-fired power plant used to support a Bitcoin mining operation in upstate New York has divided local residents over the environmental toll of the energy-consuming process versus the economic benefits the company brings to the city.

Residents who protested the operations of the plant, which sits on the shores of Seneca Lake, expressed concern over air pollution and warming at the lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes, reported NBC News.

“The lake is so hot it feels like you are in a hot tub,” Abi Buddington, a resident of Dresden, New York, whose home is near the lake, told NBC. ‘factory.

Buddington, who is also secretary of the Finger Lakes Preservation Committee, helped organize a protest at a nearby Department of Environmental Conservation office in Avon, NY, last month against the plant.

Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive process and a “horrible business model for all of New York State.” LARS HAGBERG / AFP via Getty Images

The protest was also organized by Seneca Lake Guardian, a non-profit conservation advocacy organization.

“These crypto operations are looking for anywhere that has relatively cheap energy in a relatively cool climate,” Yvonne Taylor, group vice president, told NBC. “It is a horrible business model for all of New York State, the United States and for the planet.”

Bitcoin mining is the energy-intensive process that both produces new bitcoin while processing transactions made with the existing supply. It has become a major point of criticism for crypto, with even some of its biggest supporters like Tesla CEO Elon Musk denouncing its environmental impact.

Judith Enck, former EPA regional administrator, said New York will not meet its greenhouse gas reduction target by 2030 if the Bitcoin mining plant continues to operate. John Greim / LightRocket via Getty Images

The facility on the shores of Seneca Lake is owned by private equity firm Atlas Holdings and is operated by Greenidge Generation, NBC reported. Atlas bought the coal-fired power plant in 2014, three years after it closed, according to the report, and converted it to natural gas, according to the report.

The nearly 80-year-old plant resumed operations in 2017 and only produced power for the grid in times of high demand, according to the report.

But in 2019, Greenidge began using the factory to fuel its Bitcoin mining efforts. While the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed since then, the potential profit from mining the cryptocurrency has also increased and Greenidge has increased production at the plant.

Elon Musk called out Bitcoin for the negative impact of mining on the environment Getty Images

In the 12 months ending February 28, 2021, the company said it mined 1,186 bitcoin at a cost of around $ 2,869 each. Bitcoin, is extremely volatile, is currently trading at around $ 33,600 per coin.

But the growing demand for energy to power Bitcoin’s mining operations worries locals and environmentalists.

Greenidge, for his part, says state environmental authorities have determined that the plant “does not have a significant impact on the environment,” according to NBC. The company said last month that its operations will soon be carbon neutral, NBC reported, and that it is purchasing carbon credits that offset the plant’s emissions.

After the local protest last month, the company announced the publication of a study by an economic consulting firm that touted its job creation in the region and called its facility carbon neutral.

The plant employs 31 people, NBC said, and the company said last month that it plans to add at least 10 more full-time employees over the next year.

But Judith Enck, former regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency and senior fellow and visiting faculty member at Bennington College in Vermont, told NBC that Greenidge’s carbon credits were probably “not a particularly effective way. to achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets “.

“New York had set itself a legal target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030,” Enck told NBC. “The state will not achieve this goal if the mining of Greenidge Bitcoin continues.”

Documents obtained through a request for files opened by Earth Justice, a nonprofit conservationist, show emissions from the plant have skyrocketed since Greenidge began using it to power operations mining of Bitcoin, NBC reported.

At the end of 2020, the plant’s carbon dioxide equivalent emissions stood at 243,103 tonnes, up from 28,301 tonnes in January, according to the report. The plant generated carbon emissions of just 119,304 tonnes in 2018 and 39,406 tonnes in 2019, according to federal documents obtained by Earth Justice.

Critics fear that more previously closed factories could also be reopened to support Bitcoin mining efforts. Greenidge announced last week the opening of a new Bitcoin mining operation in Spartanburg, South Carolina, at a retired Atlas-owned printing plant.

Certainly, the Greenidge plant on Seneca Lake also has its local supporters. The Dresden Fire Department accepted a donation of $ 25,000 from the company, according to NBC, and the school district received a gift of $ 20,000.

The gas-fired power plant used to mine Bitcoin employs 31 people. Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Gwen Chamberlain, former editor of a local newspaper, is on a community advisory board working with Greenidge.

“The tax base is growing, and that is helping the school, the county and the city tremendously,” Chamberlain told NBC News. “Their jobs have always been good, solid jobs for local workers. “

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