New York State Cryptomining Moratorium Expires in One Month and Still No Environmental Impact Study

ALBANY, NY (10/22/2024) (readMedia)-- On November 22, 2024, in just one month, New York State's cryptomining moratorium will expire. Signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022, the first-in-the-nation moratorium paused new and renewed air permits for fossil fuel power plants housing proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining. The law also required the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to conduct a comprehensive study on the environmental impact of cryptomining operations across New York State before the end of the two-year pause. With just one month until the end of the moratorium, no such study has been completed. Without it, New York risks giving fossil-fueled cryptomining operations, like Greenidge Generation and Fortistar North Tonawanda/Digihost, the green light to wreak havoc on New York communities without adequate oversight or accountability. It will also further delay New York from meeting its vital climate goals under New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).

This summer, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) reported that the state is unlikely to achieve a 70% renewable energy grid by 2030, a key requirement in New York's CLCPA. The report cited new "large loads" on the state's energy grid as part of the setback - one of the largest loads on the grid is cryptocurrency mining. While there is currently limited data on cryptomining operations across New York, there is ample evidence that shows that these cryptocurrency mines create excessive noise, air, and water pollution, raise utility costs for everyday New Yorkers, and burn enormous amounts of fossil fuels that contribute to the climate crisis. These mining operations that power thousands of machines to produce Bitcoin consume enough energy in New York to power approximately 971,060 homes each year. Without these cryptomining plants, New York could be as much as 4% closer to meeting its renewable energy targets under the CLCPA.

"New York's cryptomining facilities have been harming local communities and the climate for too long, with little to no oversight. New Yorkers deserve to know the true environmental costs of cryptomining in the state and how the state plans to mitigate that pollution before the moratorium expires next month," said Mandy DeRoche, a deputy managing attorney in the Clean Energy Program at Earthjustice. "Not only would the DEC environmental impact study serve as a guidepost for how New York regulates cryptomining going forward, it would also help bring the state one step closer to meeting its CLCPA climate targets."

"We need Governor Hochul to comply with the 2022 cryptomining moratorium and produce an environmental impact study," said Yvonne Taylor, Vice President of Seneca Lake Guardian. "The existing cryptominers in New York like the fracked gas-powered Bitcoin mine Greenidge Generation are heating up our atmosphere and poisoning our lakes. An environmental impact study would show New Yorkers just how harmful these facilities are with real, hard data.The moratorium was signed into law to protect New Yorkers from corporate bullies who want to exploit communities like mine in the Finger Lakes, and it's time for the Governor to make good on this promise."

"Our city continues to be harmed by the increased emissions and constant high noise levels emitted from the Fortistar plant now that it is used by Digihost to mine Bitcoin, said Deb Gondek, Chair of the North Tonawanda Climate Smart Communities Task Force. "An environmental impact study would reaffirm what community members like me already know and provide a complete assessment of all the human health and environmental harms. I urge Governor Hochul to produce this study."

"The obligations of the cryptomining moratorium legislation are very clear," said Elizabeth Moran, Policy Advocate for the Northeast Office of Earthjustice. "If we want New York to lead on climate, Governor Hochul must use her power to ensure DEC has the resources it needs to complete the environmental impact study, as required by law. We can't afford to drop the ball on this."

Background:

About Cryptomining at Greenidge

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. 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 has now appealed that decision to state court.

About Cryptomining at Digihost/Fortistar North Tonawanda

Before Digihost's purchase of the gas plant, it occasionally provided energy to the grid, at 0.9% to 4% of its annual capacity. With Digihost's change in operations to mine cryptocurrency in early 2023, the facility has increased its emissions by combusting fracked gas 24/7/365 to mine Bitcoin. Digihost has informed DEC that they plan to emit 312,000 tons of greenhouse emissions yearly, equivalent to the energy use of more than 165,000 homes. That's more than double the total amount of emissions they released in the seven years 2016-2023 in just one year.

This drastic increase in operations is making the facility a major source of local air pollution and climate change-accelerating greenhouse gas emissions - while the rest of the state focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to meet the mandates of NYS's climate law. When it is operating, the facility is also a constant source of health-harming noise pollution for the people who live near the plant.

While the City of North Tonawanda is surrounded by water and wildlife, it already bears the burden of significant pollution. Communities surrounding the gas plant have been designated as "disadvantaged communities" under state law, and include census tracts that the state has assessed as bearing an environmental burden greater than that borne by 90% of the state. The increase in operations from cryptomining at the Digihost/Fortistar gas plant will harm an already environmentally overburdened community, in violation of New York's Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

In July 2024, the North Tonawanda City Council approved a two-year moratorium on cryptomining in response to concerns over the Fortistar facility's increasing greenhouse gas emissions and the noise pollution that negatively impacts the daily lives of residents.

About Cryptomining Across the U.S.

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.

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 proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining in 2021, citing, among other things, the environmental threats that the energy-intensive process poses to meeting emissions reduction goals, cryptomining increased significantly in the United States. The U.S. now hosts 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.