Lawmakers and Impacted Residents Demand Legislative Action to Protect New Yorkers from Cryptomining Abuses

ALBANY, NY (10/17/2025) (readMedia)-- At a virtual press conference today, state lawmakers, environmental advocates, and residents from the Finger Lakes and North Tonawanda-communities impacted by nearby cryptomining operations-called on Albany to rein in the growing harms of energy-hogging cryptomining in New York. They urged lawmakers to pass two landmark bills this session to protect New Yorkers from the harmful impacts of cryptomining and put the public good ahead of corporate profits.

WATCH A RECORDING OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE HERE.

Right now, wealthy cryptomining companies like Greenidge Generation on Seneca Lake and Digihost/Fortistar in North Tonawanda are exploiting loopholes in New York law to keep emitting greenhouse gases and polluting nearby communities for years on end-all while operating on expired air permits.They're also often paying less than their fair share for the massive amounts of energy they consume.

In the Finger Lakes, Greenidge Generation has been running its cryptomine on an expired air permit for more than three years. The Department of Environmental Conservation denied its air permit-a decision that's been affirmed multiple times-finding the cryptomine's emissions are inconsistent with New York's climate law, the CLCPA. Yet Greenidge continues operating by exploiting a loophole in the State Administrative Procedure Act that lets it operate and pollute 24/7 while it drags legal proceedings on for as long as possible-dodging accountability, undermining the CLCPA, producing air, water, and noise pollution that compromises nearby residents' health, and providing little to no economic benefit.

In North Tonawanda, the Digihost cryptomine and its Fortistar gas plant, also used almost exclusively to mine Bitcoin, has been operating and polluting the community since 2021 on an expired air permit. Meanwhile, the plant continues to emit hundreds of thousands of tons of greenhouse gases-146,400 tons of CO2 through September of this year alone, up from last year's annual total, which already represented a 4,900% increase in CO2 emissions since 2021.

Adding insult to injury, Digihost also pays far less for energy than everyday New Yorkers: in 2023, Digihost paid the equivalent of 3 cents per kilowatt hour (kW/h) for its energy, while residential ratepayers in New York paid an average of 22.25 cents per kW/h for their electricity.

The legislation that residents, advocates, and lawmakers called for today would close these loopholes, strengthen oversight, and ensure New York's clean energy future isn't derailed by unchecked cryptomining. Together, the two bills would hold cryptomining companies accountable for the full costs of their pollution and energy use and directly impact the fights in the Finger Lakes and North Tonawanda against Greenidge and Digihost/Fortistar:

PERMITTING REFORM: S6833A (Harckham)/A8553 (J.G. Wright) would close loopholes that let cryptominers keep operating on expired air permits while dragging out legal challenges. It would suspend any air permit two years after the state denies an air permit, preventing companies like Greenidge Generation in the Finger Lakes from continuing to pollute while contesting the DEC's air permit denial. It would improve the backlog of DEC permit applications that have gone unreviewed for years by automatically suspending expired permits and denying renewal applications after three years, ending the cycle of prolonged delays for facilities like Digihost/Fortistar, whose next permit term is nearing expiration even though the last one hasn't been resolved.

EXCISE TAX: S8518 (Kreuger)/(Kelles) would impose an excise tax, a consumption tax, on the massive energy consumption of cryptomining operations. The tax would gradually scale with usage: the more electricity a mining operation uses in a year, the higher the tax rate on the excess usage. The tax would exempt facilities that get their energy from renewable sources that are not connected to the electric grid, meaning fossil fuel–powered mines like Greenidge Generation and Digihost/Fortistar would be subject to it. The bill ensures cryptominers pay their fair share for the strain they place on New York's energy system.

These bills are particularly critical to pass this session given Hochul's recent signals that she's willing to abandon these communities, New Yorkers, and the climate to side with big polluters. This summer, the New York Independent System Operator's (NYISO) Power Trends report and the draft State Energy Plan propagated a narrative that New York needs more fossil fuel generation to meet projected energy demand from large loads like cryptomines. Hochul then relied on these unfounded arguments as justification to further delay a fourth round of administrative proceedings in the Greenidge Generation case citing NYISO's Power Trends report.

Lawmakers in Albany must pass the permitting reform and excise tax bills to show leadership where the Governor has not. These operations harm communities, exploit expired permits, and bring little local benefit, which is why Albany must pass the permitting reform and excise tax bills to close loopholes, strengthen oversight, and put the public good ahead of corporate profits.

"Greenidge has polluted our air and water for years while exploiting a broken system," said Yvonne Taylor, Vice President of Seneca Lake Guardian. "These bills would finally hold them accountable and prevent huge polluters from operating on expired or denied permits indefinitely. Our communities have suffered long enough. It's time for Albany to step up and put New Yorkers ahead of cryptomining companies' ongoing abuses."

"North Tonawanda residents experience the harmful impacts of cryptomining every day and see firsthand how existing state laws fail to hold these companies accountable for harming our communities and the climate," said Deb Gondek, a North Tonawanda resident and member of the North Tonawanda Climate Smart Communities Task Force. "If lawmakers truly want to uphold our climate law and protect communities from noise, air, and water pollution that compromise public health, they must pass the permitting reform and excise tax bills this session."

"Cryptomining companies have been getting away with continued abuse, and the Governor is just turning a blind eye," said Bridge Rauch, Climate and Energy Organizer with the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York. "With Hochul willing to put our communities last, we're no longer confident that the DEC will enforce our climate law and require Digihost, or any other cryptomining operations, to mitigate its emissions. These bills are commonsense checks on her favoritism toward corporate cryptominers, protecting people instead of profits."

"Allowing cryptominers like Greenidge and Digihost to keep polluting on expired permits without paying their fair share not only flies in the face of our climate law, but causes immense harm to New Yorkers" said Liz Moran, New York Policy Advocate at Earthjustice. "Albany must pass these bills to protect our environment and uphold the promise of New York's affordable, clean energy future."

"We cannot allow companies to jeopardize public health by exploiting loopholes or regulatory gaps. It's essential that we strengthen oversight, enforce environmental laws, and hold corporations accountable to the standards our communities deserve. Public health must never be sacrificed for corporate profits," said State Senator Harckham.

"Cryptocurrency miners provide very little benefit to New York State or to the communities where they are located, but create significant costs and burdens on ratepayers, the electric grid, the local environment, and our shared climate. Imposing an excise tax on the exorbitant amount of energy used by cryptominers will ensure that the costs of those negative impacts will no longer be foisted on everyone else, but the companies themselves will actually pay something a little closer to their fair share," said State Senator Krueger.

"Cyrptomining operations like Greenidge and Digihost are consuming energy on the scale of small cities while paying as little as 4 cents kW/h, less than one-sixth of what New York families and small businesses pay. The cost to build the necessary utility infrastructure like voltage lines and substations to meet these extensive energy needs are not paid by the cryptomining companies. These costs are pushed onto ratepayers through higher utility bills, forcing New Yorkers to subsidize private profit. This legislation ensures that cryptominers finally pay their fair share and that the true economic costs of their operations are no longer shouldered by working families. By holding these companies accountable and ensuring these funds go to state energy assistance programs, we can stabilize our energy systems and redirect hundreds of millions of dollars toward New York households instead of inflating corporate margins," said Assemblymember Kelles.