Cryptominer Greenidge Generation Fails to Silence Impacted Communities in Lawsuit

DRESDEN, NY (09/17/2024) (readMedia)-- In the midst of climate-killing cryptominer Greenidge Generation's last-ditch effort to continue mining Bitcoin by burning fracked gas on Seneca Lake, Earthjustice won their motion to intervene in the case on behalf of Seneca Lake Guardian, Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes, and Sierra Club. Representing communities directly affected by Greenidge's cryptomining operations, Earthjustice's intervention ensures that the voices and experiences of the surrounding community will be heard in Greenidge's lawsuit against the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Earthjustice, along with co-counsel Whiteman, Osterrman & Hanna LLP, filed papers to intervene late last August.

"Greenidge Generation continues to operate in violation of the CLCPA, as stated by the DEC three times now, while the surrounding community is left to suffer the pollution from its operations. Earthjustice strongly opposes Greenidge's continued attempts to challenge the DEC's authority to pollute the Finger Lakes and the climate, and we are pleased that the surrounding impacted community will now have the opportunity to weigh in on this critical case," said Mandy DeRoche, Deputy Managing Attorney, Clean Energy Program at Earthjustice.

After receiving their third and final decision from the DEC denying their Air Permit (their permit was first denied in June 2022, and they lost on appeal twice), Greenidge filed a lawsuit (Index No. 2024-5221) in New York State Supreme Court, Yates County seeking to continue cryptomining as they appeal the NYS DEC's decision to deny its Title V Air Permit renewal application. Greenidge is arguing that the DEC should not be allowed to refuse permits based on the CLCPA -- New York's climate law that the DEC and other agencies are tasked with enforcing.

This isn't the first time a company has challenged DEC in court for denying an air permit under the CLCPA. In 2022, a judge dismissed Danskammer Energy's case to overturn the DEC's denial of its air permit, affirming that DEC has ample authority under the CLCPA to deny permits. The air permit for Astoria Generating Station was also denied and not challenged, a huge win for the climate and local communities.

ABOUT GREENIDGE GENERATION AND CRYPTOMINING IN NEW YORK

Greenidge Generation is a former coal plant, now gas-fired, power plant that previously did not operate for 6 years, and then operated to provide power to New York's grid in times of peak demand, and was completely dormant with zero GHG and local air emissions from 2011-2016. Now, it burns fracked gas 24/7/365 to mine Bitcoin.

According to Greenidge's own documentation, in 2023, the facility emitted nearly as much CO2 as 83,774 cars on the road (388,000 short tons of CO2). In its first year of operations, Greenidge quintupled its air pollution. It's doubled its emissions since then. These are just direct CO2 emissions - the numbers are even more staggering adding in upstream emissions and local air pollutants.

On June 30, 2022, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation issued a Notice of Denial of the air permit renewal for Greenidge Generation. Greenidge appealed that decision, and on September 26, 2023, an Administrative Law Judge found again that Greenidge Generation's operations are inconsistent with the greenhouse gas emissions limits of New York's Climate Law (the CLCPA). And again on May 8, 2024, the DEC denied Greenidge its Air Permit renewal. At that time, the DEC also found that there were no further reasons for adjudication, thus concluding Greenidge's administrative appeal.

Greenidge isn't the only fracked gas-burning Bitcoin mining operation threatening New York's climate progress. Advocates, organizations, and elected officials are also urging Governor Hochul and her administration to deny the air permit renewal for the gas-fired Digihost/Fortistar North Tonawanda power plant, now also a polluting proof-of-work crypto mining operation, in Western New York.

Burning fossil fuels like gas accelerates climate change, and a new study from The Journal of Cleaner Production shows how the carbon, air, and water footprint of cryptocurrency far surpasses that of traditional currencies.

Bad air quality is the world's leading environmental killer, linked to over 100,000 deaths each year in the U.S. alone. While the rest of New York works to meet the greenhouse gas emission reduction mandates of our climate law to fight climate change, Greenidge and Digihost are fighting to continue burning fracked gas.

On November 22, 2022, Governor Hochul signed the first-in-the-nation two-year moratorium on new and renewed air permits for fossil-fueled power plants that produce their own energy to mine cryptocurrency. The new law requires the DEC perform a full environmental impact assessment on the energy and environmental impacts of crypto mining operations. However, the moratorium did not affect air permit applications that had already been submitted before its enactment, such as Greenidge's and Digihost/Fortistar's applications.

ABOUT CRYPTOMINING ACROSS THE COUNTRY

In its most recent report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that Earth is likely to cross a critical and dire threshold for global warming within the next decade if we don't quickly and drastically reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

But after China banned proof-of-work crypto-mining (the process Bitcoin uses), citing, among other things, the environmental threats that mining poses to meeting emissions reduction goals, the U.S. is now hosting many energy-intensive proof-of-work crypto-mining operations. 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 for cooling. Globally, Bitcoin mining consumes more energy each year than entire countries. Fossil-fueled mining facilities can also be major emitters of local air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution and electronic waste, among other externalities on impacted host communities.

The New York Times has published several in-depth exposes about the negative impacts of proof-of-work Bitcoin mining including energy use, noise pollution, and national security. In September 2022, the White House sounded the alarm about cryptocurrency mining - the Office of Science and Technology Policy released a report about the industry's climate threats and the need for regulation. But cryptocurrency mining continues to grow rapidly across the country. Earthjustice and the Sierra Club released a Guidebook as well, with state-specific follow-ups specific to cryptomining in Pennsylvania, Texas, Kentucky, and Indiana, and calls for additional transparency and accountability.

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.

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