Electeds, Advocates, & Attorneys Fight Back As FLX Cryptominer Greenidge Generation Sues to Gut CLCPA

DRESDEN, NY (08/22/2024) (readMedia)-- On Thursday, Assemblymember Anna Kelles, attorneys with Earthjustice, and Finger Lakes community members held a press conference to condemn climate-killing cryptominer Greenidge Generation's last-ditch effort to continue mining Bitcoin by burning fracked gas on Seneca Lake, and gut New York's nation-leading climate law in the process.

Watch the press conference here.

After receiving their third and final decision from the Department of Environmental Conservation denying their Air Permit (their permit was first denied in June 2022, and they lost on appeal twice), Greenidge has now filed a lawsuit (index no: 2024-5221) in New York State Supreme Court, Yates County. Greenidge is seeking to continue cryptomining as they appeal the NYS DEC's decision to deny its Title V Air Permit renewal application, and 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.

On Tuesday, Earthjustice, on behalf of clients Seneca Lake Guardian, The Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes, Fossil Free Tompkins, and Sierra Club, along with co-counsel Whiteman, Osternman & Janna LLP filed papers to intervene in the case.

"Greenidge Generation is operating in violation of the CLCPA, as stated by the DEC three times now. We are advocating on behalf of our clients, and we strongly oppose Greenidge's continued attempts to challenge the DEC's authority to pollute the Finger Lakes and the climate," said Mandy DeRoche, Deputy Managing Attorney, Clean Energy Program at Earthjustice.

"As facilities across the state work to decrease GHG emissions to comply with the CLCPA, Greenidge is fighting to increase GHG emissions and local air pollution, regardless of its impact on the climate and local community. The DEC has done the right thing on Greenidge three times now, and we'll continue advocating for our clients to make sure the permit denial sticks," said Lisa Perfetto, Senior Attorney, Clean Energy Program at Earthjustice.

"Every New Yorker should be outraged as Greenidge attempts to gut New York's Climate law to serve its own purpose. And for what? To make a very few, very rich individuals even richer at the expense of our climate, environment, and Finger Lakes' $3 billion agritourism economy supporting 70,000 jobs. Regardless of Greenidge's ridiculous foot stomping, the reality is quite simple: the Department of Environmental Conservation is charged with approving or denying Title V Air Permits, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act is the law, and Greenidge must shut down once and for all," said Yvonne Taylor, Vice President of Seneca Lake Guardian.

"The DEC rightly denied Greenidge's Title V Air Permit over two years ago on the grounds that it violated our state's climate law. Instead of heeding the law, Greenidge continues to harm our environment, our vibrant Finger Lakes economy and our residents. The DEC's decision was upheld in Greenidge's last appeal, but they continue to seek ways to delay closure of the facility. Our climate law, the CLCPA, must be the lens through which all new and renewing permits are considered," said Abi Buddington, Secretary of Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes.

Roger Downs, Conservation Director, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter said, "Our climate laws are only as strong as their enforcement. Dirty fossil fuel plants like Greenidge, used to power energy hungry bitcoin mines, continue to undermine our goals for an emissions free grid and breathable air for all New Yorkers. It has been more than 2 years since New York correctly rejected Greenidge's cryptomine air permit, but the plant still continues to operate, profit and pollute while it exploits the State's appeals process. True justice will only come when this plant shuts down for good."

"Our lives and livelihoods are being impacted by climate change: This summer has been defined by extreme heat, and now, just at the beginning of hurricane season, we've already experienced two major floods that shut down roads and delayed travel. It's only going to get worse. In the face of this litigation, New Yorkers need Governor Hochul to stand strong against big corporate polluters and defend and enforce our landmark climate law. We cannot let this out-of-state corporate bully gut our climate law just to protect its own bottom line," said Liz Moran, New York Policy Advocate at Earthjustice.

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.

Last year, the New York Times published an in-depth expose about the negative impacts of proof-of-work Bitcoin mining. 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.

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.