Report Shows NYS Climate Law Is Off Track, Advocates Urge DEC to Deny Climate-Killing Cryptomine's Air Permit

NORTH TONAWANDA, NY (07/15/2024) (readMedia)-- On Friday, Earthjustice, the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York, and the Sierra Club - Atlantic Chapter sent a letter to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) urging them to swiftly deny the air permit for Digihost/Fortistar North Tonawanda, the polluting proof-of-work crypto mining operation.

Earthjustice, the Clean Air Coalition of WNY, and the Sierra Club - Atlantic Chapter write, "Under your leadership, the DEC followed New York's climate law mandates by denying the air permit for the Greenidge cryptomining plant-and affirming that denial, most recently in May 2024 when the DEC affirmed the operation's inconsistency with the CLCPA. The same decision must be made for the Fortistar/Digihost air permit, to protect the health of nearby communities and in order for the state to meet its statutory mandates under the CLCPA in 2030, 2040 and 2050."

Read the full letter to the DEC attached and pasted below.

Digihost has gained negative attention in recent weeks for causing severe noise pollution and increasing local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The facility was also a subject of last Sunday's front page Buffalo News story because it has massively increased harmful emissions since its air permit expired. This news comes at the same time as a report from NYSERDA shows NYS is far off-track to meet the emissions reductions mandates in New York's Climate Law.

Recent stories on Digihost include:

• Buffalo News – North Tonawanda Residents Ask State to Step in to Regulate Noise from Crypto Mining Company
• Buffalo News Editorial - Noise and Air Pollution at Digihost Has Been Ignored Too Long
• State of Politics – North Tonawanda Residents Urge DEC to Reject Crypto Mining Company Application
• WBEN radio – North Tonawanda Residents Call for Halt to Crypto-mining Operations
• Buffalo Rising – Voices From North Tonawanda Residents Cannot Drown Out Constant Noise From Crypto Miner
• WGRZ – Moratorium proposed in North Tonawanda Following Continued Complaints from Cryptomine
• WKBW - North Tonawanda Neighbors Voice Concerns Over Noise and Emissions from Digihost Plant
• WGRZ - Noise Problems Continue For Neighbors of the Digihost Plant in North Tonawanda

LETTER:

Sean Mahar, Interim Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

David S. Denk, Regional Permit Administrator, Division of Air Resources, Region 9, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

RE: Fortistar North Tonawanda Digihost International

Dear Mr. Mahar, and Mr. Denk:

The Clean Air Coalition of Western New York, the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, and Earthjustice write today to urge the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to swiftly deny the air permit for the Digihost/Fortistar North Tonawanda gas plant that operates a polluting proof-of-work cryptomining operation behind-the-meter.

Under your leadership, the DEC followed New York's climate law mandates by denying the air permit for the Greenidge cryptomining plant-and affirming that denial, most recently in May 2024 when the DEC affirmed the operation's inconsistency with the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). The same decision must be made for the Fortistar/Digihost air permit, to protect the health of nearby communities and in order for the state to meet its statutory mandates under the CLCPA in 2030, 2040 and 2050.

The Title V permit for the Digihost/Fortistar gas plant expired on November 8, 2021 and the application for its renewal has been pending for over three years, since April 21, 2021.

We urge the DEC act on this permit as soon as possible and to scrutinize the permit carefully – namely, to reject any version of this permit that will allow the plant to convert from running only during periods of peak demand to running nearly full-time, leading to increased emissions of greenhouse gasses ("GHGs") and local air pollution, for the purpose of powering cryptocurrency mining.

Since the gas plant was purchased by Digihost to mine cryptocurrency, its emissions have substantially increased. In fact, from just the first few months of 2024, the facility's emissions are almost equal to 2022 and 2023 combined. The chart below reflects this steep increase.

This significant increase in emissions is clearly in contravention of CLCPA Section 7(2).

In addition, several communities that are designated as disadvantaged communities by DEC are impacted by the increased local air pollution from this facility's increased operations, a potential violation of CLCPA Section 7(3).5 According to DEC's Disadvantaged Community (DAC) Mapping Tool, the Facility is proximate to several DEC-designated DACs6 and DEC-designated Potential Environmental Justice Areas (PEJA).7 However, when asked what steps they would take to protect these DACs, Digihost/Fortistar, merely stated that they would "maintain and operate the facility with the goal of minimizing GHG emissions and possible impacts to the community."8 The DACs and PEJAs around the facility already bear a significant environmental burden. The increasing harm from the facility's operation, as well as the lack of mitigation efforts from the Facility is in direct contravention of CLCPA Section 7(3) which also merits denial of the permit.

In light of the above, we request that the DEC issue the draft air permit in the Environmental News Bulletin as soon as possible, quickly commencing the period for public comment, and to deny Fortistar's Title V Permit. Further, as DEC is considering whether the air permit should be transferred to Digihost, we request DEC deny the transfer as the facility has clearly undergone a "significant change" from "the design or operation of the previously approved project that was permitted" in contravention of 6 NYCRR § 621.11(c).

Finally, we note the press coverage in the last two weeks about the air and noise pollution from the plant now that it is operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Residents are being severely affected by the facility's operation and came together to discuss the Facility's impacts on their quality of life, identifying the increasing noise pollution in the area and the increasing GHG and local air emissions concerns. This pollution needs to be mitigated as soon as possible. We urge DEC to take action swiftly.

Sincerely,

Bridge Rauch & Chris Murawski, Clean Air Coalition of Western New York

Kate Bartholomew, Chair & Roger Downs, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter

Jessamine De Ocampo & Mandy DeRoche, Earthjustice

cc:

Erica Ringewald, Chief of Staff, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Maureen Leddy, Director, Office of Climate Change, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

John Binder, Deputy Commissioner, Climate Change, Air Resources, and Energy, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Christopher LaLone, Director, Division of Air Resources, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

About cryptomining at Digihost/Fortistar North Tonawanda

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 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.

Before Digihost's purchase of the fossil 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 steadily increased 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.

On top of creating significant air pollution, there are also water use and discharge concerns. As 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.

There are also serious noise pollution concerns. The Buffalo News recently published a story detailing the major noise pollution Digihost causes, and how it adversely impacts North Tonawanda residents. 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.

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 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 the Digihost/Fortistar application. 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 data from 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.

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