North Tonawanda Residents Say NO to Fossil-Fueled Crypto Mining!

NORTH TONAWANDA, NY (06/20/2024) (readMedia)-- This morning, North Tonawanda residents and advocates gathered for a press conference across the street from Digihost/Fortistar North Tonawanda, the polluting proof-of-work crypto mining operation. The group urged the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to deny the operation's air permit renewal application, and urged the North Tonawanda City Council to approve a two-year moratorium on crypto mining in July. The facility's increasing greenhouse gas emissions make it a major contributor to climate change and local air pollution, and the noise pollution is negatively impacting residents' daily lives.

Watch the presser here.

Almost exactly two years ago on June 30, 2022, the NYS DEC denied the Title V Air Permit renewal for Greenidge Generation, a crypto mining facility in the Finger Lakes, citing dramatic increase in greenhouse gas emissions. This decision has now been upheld twice, in 2023 and 2024. This sets a precedent for the DEC to deny Digihost's air permit renewal application. Like Greenidge, Digihost has been operating on an expired DEC-issued air permit. Digihost's air permit expired two and a half years ago on November 8, 2021, and its application for permit renewal has been pending for over three years.

"As New York State works to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution as mandated by our landmark Climate Law, Digihost is increasing the power plant's carbon emissions and local air pollution exponentially, to the detriment of New Yorkers and the planet. Governor Hochul and the DEC must begin the public process of reviewing Digihost's permit application NOW, and swiftly deny Digihost's air permit," said Jessamine De Ocampo, Associate Attorney, Clean Energy Program, Earthjustice.

"North Tonawanda is making a lot of progress toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but Digihost threatens to wipe out all of our progress with a wasteful energy process that only benefits a few individuals at a wealthy, private company. Firing up a fracked gas facility for Bitcoin mining flies in the face of the NYS Climate Law and our goals for reducing carbon emissions. We urge the DEC to continue its record of protecting our Climate Law by denying Digihost's air permit. And locally, we need the Common Council to approve a two-year cryptocurrency moratorium," said Deborah Gondek, chair of the North Tonawanda Climate Smart Task Force.

Negative climate and environmental impacts aren't the only way Digihost harms the community. Over the weekend, the Buffalo News published a story detailing the major noise pollution Digihost causes, and how it adversely impacts North Tonawanda residents. Residents described it as nails on a chalkboard that can get louder at night, making it difficult to sleep.

"I live almost a mile from Digihost, and the noise, which sounds like a jet plane taxiing up to the gate, has become constant and unbearable. It keeps me out of my backyard, and I never see my neighbors in their yards either. My dog won't even stay outside for longer than a minute. I can only imagine how much worse it is for people who live closer to Digihost, and I'm afraid of the long term medical impacts the noise will have on me and my neighbors. Digihost's Bitcoin profits aren't worth more than our health. We need our state and local government to stand up and protect us!" said Mark Polito, North Tonawanda resident.

A growing body of research shows that chronic noise is a largely unrecognized health threat that increases the risk of hypertension, stroke, and heart attacks. Noise pollution also impacts human physical health and mental health, as well the health of pets and wildlife.

About cryptomining at Digihost/Fortistar North Tonawanda

Before Digihost's purchase of the gas plant, it previously operated as a peaker plant that occasionally provided energy to the grid, about 3-5 weeks a year at at 0.9% to 4% of its annual capacity. With Digihost's change in operations to mine cryptocurrency in early 2023, the facility is steadily increasing their 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 2016-2023 on a YEARLY basis.

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.

"A whopping 89% of Title V permits have expired in Erie and Niagara County, with some that expired all the way back to 2012 - this is unacceptable and requires immediate action. We need Governor Hochul and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to prioritize reviewing applications for renewals for Title V and for smaller state air permit facilities, and we need DEC to step up inspection of these facilities as well as actually enforce the rules of existing permits to get air pollution emissions reined in," said Bridge Rauch, Environmental Justice Organizer, Tonawanda Campaigns, Clean Air Coalition of Western New York.

On top of creating significant air pollution, there are also water use and discharge concerns. When the Digihost/Fortistar gas plant ramps up to 24/7 operations to mine crypto, it will use and then discharge hundreds of thousands of gallons of hot water into an already-overburdened and aging municipal water system that is in need of major upgrades.

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 crypto. 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 Fortistar's application. The public comment process for the Environmental Impact Statement required by the moratorium law has begun. Impacted communities and those concerned with CLCPA compliance are looking forward to a robust Environmental Impact Statement from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

About Cryptomining Across the Country

In a 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. Earthjustice and the Sierra Club released a Guidebook as well, with state-specific follow-ups to cryptomining in Pennsylvania, Texas, Kentucky, and Indiana, as well as on related topics including right to mine legislation and the lack of energy use reporting requirements for cryptominers.

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice represents several clients with respect to Digihost's operations, including the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York and the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. Earthjustice also partners with local advocates and residents.

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.