Granbury Residents Sue Local Bitcoin Mine Over Health-Threatening Noise Pollution

GRANBURY, TX (10/04/2024) (readMedia)-- Today, a group of Granbury community members, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit (case number: C2024253) in Texas State Court, Hood County, against Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc., which operates a bitcoin mine in Granbury, Texas. The lawsuit alleges that Marathon creates a private nuisance by causing and then failing to mitigate excessive noise pollution caused by their 24/7 proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining operations, resulting in sustained harm to the surrounding community. Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of Citizens Concerned About Wolf Hollow.

Proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive process involving tens of thousands of large computers running 24/7, and the constant roar of fans used to cool the machines results in excessive noise pollution. Prior to filing the lawsuit, Earthjustice identified over two dozen individuals who suffer direct health impacts due to the constant noise pollution from the cryptomining operations. Examples include permanent hearing loss, severe migraines, tinnitus and debilitating vertigo. Earthjustice is seeking a permanent injunction, demanding that the cryptomining operations either shut down or immediately implement measures to significantly reduce the harms caused by the excessive noise pollution.

"The Marathon cryptomining operations are creating significant noise pollution in Granbury, resulting in serious health and quality of life impacts to the surrounding community. Persistent exposure to this noise is detrimental for human health, animals, and the environment. Residents' homes are no longer the refuge that they should be. Marathon must take immediate action to effectively mitigate their noise pollution or shut down operations altogether," said Rodrigo Cantú, Senior Attorney with Earthjustice's Gulf Regional Office.

Marathon operates its bitcoin mining facility behind-the-meter at the Wolf Hollow gas plant in Granbury. The gas plant is a 1,115 megawatt combined-cycle gas and steam turbine generation facility, with plans to bring an additional 300 megawatts of gas-fired generation online.

"The people of Granbury have been forced to endure constant and unrelenting noise from Marathon's cryptomining operations. No corporation has the right to subject their neighbors to conditions that jeopardize their health and well-being. Marathon must reduce its noise pollution," said Rebecca Ramirez, Associate Attorney with Earthjustice's Gulf Regional Office.

"In such a short time, Bitcoin mining has completely altered our community, for the worse. The around-the-clock mining isn't just driving up our electricity bills-it's costing us our health. We feel trapped. Day and night, we are subjected to relentless noise that is physically harming us. We aren't asking for much-just for Marathon to take responsibility and restore our peace and well-being," said Granbury resident, Cheryl Shadden.

The Explosive Growth of Cryptocurrency Mining in Texas

Proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining consumes vast amounts of energy as millions of computers race to solve a complex algorithm and win digital currency. After China banned cryptocurrency mining in 2021, cryptomining increased significantly in the United States. Texas quickly emerged as a top state for large-scale cryptocurrency mining operations. As of April 2023, five of the 10 largest Bitcoin cryptocurrency mines were located in Texas. Riot's Bitcoin mining operations in Rockdale, Texas, is believed to be the largest single facility, as measured by developed capacity, in North America for Bitcoin mining. The rapid growth of cryptocurrency mining threatens Texas's grid and raises electricity rates for Texans. Cryptocurrency mining companies in Texas filed applications to connect new facilities to the grid with a projected demand of nearly 42 GW of electricity in 2027, enough electricity to power more than 8.3 million Texas homes during periods of peak demand.

Why do cryptocurrency miners keep moving to Texas? Cryptomining facilities receive reduced electricity rates from utilities and retail electric suppliers. Even though they use more energy than surrounding homes, they can pay as little as 15% of what residences pay for electricity. When energy demand soars, ERCOT charges fees to high energy users. But cryptomines dodge these fees by predicting when they will be assessed and shutting off operations. In addition, cryptocurrency miners can participate in ERCOT's demand-response programs and can often be paid by the grid operator for agreeing to shut down operations. The program pays cryptocurrency mining operations even if they are not actually asked or required to shut down. Many facilities may only shut down for only a few hours a year but can make millions of dollars Cryptocurrency miners in Texas are also permitted to pre-purchase their electricity at low prices and then sell at higher prices at times of peak demand. These costs are paid for by other Texas ratepayers. Many local governments in Texas also offer huge tax incentives to cryptomines, also paid for by everyday Texans.

While initially state and federal politicians in Texas welcomed bitcoin mining, some are having buyer's remorse. In June 2024, the state Senate Committee on Business and Commerce held a public hearing on cryptocurrency mining's impact on the state's energy grid, where state lawmakers questioned the societal benefit of cryptocurrency mining, given its massive energy consumption and the additional strain it places on an already overburdened grid. Following the hearing, Texas Lieutenant Governor spoke out, stating that cryptocurrency miners "produce very few jobs compared to the incredible demands they place on our grid... it can't be the wild, wild west of... crypto miners crashing our grid and turning the lights off." The next Texas legislative session is due to begin early 2025, and state lawmakers and impacted communities are calling for guardrails.

You can read more about cryptocurrency mining in Texas here.

ABOUT CRYPTOCURRENCY MINING 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 cryptocurrency mining (the process Bitcoin uses), citing, among other things, the environmental threats that energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining poses to meeting emissions reduction goals, the U.S. now host between 38 and 50 percent of the world's energy-intensive proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining operations. While these facilities of automated machines create few new jobs, they create climate, air, water, and electronic waste pollution, and raise costs for others.

The New York Times has published several in-depth exposés 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. Earthjustice and the Sierra Club released a Guidebook as well, with state-specific follow-ups for cryptocurrency mining in Pennsylvania, Texas, Kentucky, and Indiana, and calls for additional transparency and accountability.

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice is the nation's leading environmental law organization. As a nonprofit, our attorneys fight for everyone's right to a healthy environment, because we believe the earth needs a good lawyer.