As Cryptomining Extends Life of Fracking Sites, Nearby Kids 2-3x More Likely to Be Diagnosed w/ Leukemia

BECCARIA TOWNSHIP, PA (08/30/2022) (readMedia)-- A new study from the Yale School of Public Health found that Pennsylvania children living near fracking sites at birth were two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with leukemia between the ages of 2 and 7. Fracking is widespread in Pennsylvania, and recently, some fracking sites have begun to function only to power energy-intensive cryptomining machines.

"We already knew that fracking was detrimental to the local communities' health and environment, and the climate - now we know that it's detrimental to our children, too." said Charles McPhedran, Senior Attorney, Clean Energy Program, Earthjustice.

"While we should be focused on decarbonizing our grid, the cryptomining industry is extending the lives of fracking wells by setting up gas-guzzling mining machines, extracting gas that otherwise would have stayed in the ground. No virtual, speculative investment is worth more than our children's lives. Wasting any energy on cryptomining is bad for Pennsylvania, and endangering our children with increased fracking is unconscionable." said Rob Altenburg, Senior Director for Energy and Climate at PennFuture.

For instance, one cryptomining company, Big Dog Energy LLC, has set up at least 30 gas-fired generators at one of its fracked gas well pads in Beccaria Township, PA in order to power Bitcoin mining machines housed in mobile shipping containers. The company also has plans to develop gas wells in other areas of the state, expanding the cancer-causing practice for the sole purpose of mining speculative, virtual currency. In Ridgway Township, a similar cryptomining set-up by Pin Oak Energy Partners and located near a family farm, causes noise that "sounds basically like a jet engine," leading the chickens to lay fewer eggs or huddle and suffocate to death.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has investigated wellhead mining, but has not taken any definitive action against it beyond a Notice of Violation to Big Dog. Because many of these operations are unknown mobile, there are few details about its scale and impact. But there are over 1,000 fracked wells in Pennsylvania like those of Big Dog Energy and Pin Oak Energy Partners at risk of being converted into wellhead cryptomines if the practice continues to go unchecked.

Fracking poses a number of threats to human health: air pollution from vehicle emissions and well and road construction, water pollution from fracking and wastewater spills that can contain hundreds of cancer-causing chemicals, and drinking water contamination with oil and gas-related chemicals. As the new study notes, "the paucity of data on the association between [fracking] and childhood cancer outcomes has fueled public concerns about possible cancer clusters in heavily drilled regions and calls for more research and government action."

In addition to being harmful for human health through local air and water pollution, wellhead mining increases greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to climate change. While wellhead miners claim that stranded gas wells can cause "fugitive emissions" and leak methane into the air, properly plugging gas wells reduces those methane emissions without increasing GHG emissions.

BACKGROUND

In its recent report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that global warming will reach dangerous levels if we don't drastically reduce our dependence on fossil fuels much faster than we are. But after China banned proof-of-work cryptomining (the process Bitcoin uses), citing the environmental threats the practice poses to meeting emissions reduction goals, the U.S. has become the top country for resurrecting mothballed fossil fuel power plants as energy-intensive Bitcoin mines. While these facilities of automated machines create few new jobs, they threaten the climate, in addition to small businesses, local economies, and natural resources.

Proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive process that requires thousands of machines whirring 24/7 to solve complex equations. The more machines that are running, the faster a coin is mined. Each one of these machines requires energy to run, plus more energy to for cooling. Globally, Bitcoin mining consumes more energy each year than the entire country of Argentina. In the U.S. alone, Bitcoin mining produces an estimated 40 billion pounds of carbon emissions each year. Bitcoin mining facilities are major emitters of air pollutants. And when crypto miners rely on the public grid, they stick everyday people with the bill. A 2021 study estimates "the power demands of cryptocurrency mining operations in upstate New York push up annual electric bills by about $165 million for small businesses and $79 million for individuals.

Powering Bitcoin mining with renewables is not a viable solution, as renewables supply cannot possibly meet the extreme energy demands of Bitcoin mining in addition to daily necessities such as heating and cooling homes and running cars. Any renewable energy that supports Bitcoin mining is renewable energy that is being diverted from the public grid.

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