- The rejected bill contained a two-year ban on Bitcoin mining
- The bill's sponsor claims Democratic Party leaders pressured him not to run it
- Trade labor unions are "chronically opposed" to environmentally friendly measures
Pennsylvania legislators have removed a two-year crypto mining ban from the Cryptocurrency Energy Conservation Act, citing pressure from trade labor unions, Cointelegraph reported.
On Monday, the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee passed the above act with 13 votes in favor and 12 against. There had been no developments on it since it was introduced on June 21.
Democratic Representative Greg Vitali, who chairs the Committee and sponsored the bill, told a local medium that his party’s leaders had pressured him not to run it. The bill included a two-year ban on mining.
Chronic opposition to environmental measures
According to Rep. Vitali, trade labor unions are chronically opposed to environmentally friendly measures. He said that the unions had “the ability to peel off” Democrats who otherwise supported sound environmental policy.
He added that he did not want to risk the Democratic majority in Pennsylvania’s House by going against the unions and he’d rather the bill pass without the ban than not at all. He conceded that tolerance for strong environmental policy was low.
New reporting requirements for miners
If the two-year ban had passed, no new or renewed crypto mining permits would have been approved. As is, the bill stipulates new reporting requirements for miners and an impact study on their operations.
In the next six months, miners in Pennsylvania will need to submit information on how many mining sites they operate, how big the sites are, and how they source their energy, and provide data on emissions reports and on water and energy consumption.
These reports will have to be submitted once a year. New miners in the Keystone State will have to submit the same reports before commencing operations.
Stronghold Digital burns coal and tires to mine
One of the crypto miners operating in the state is Stronghold Digital Mining. They bought two coal-burning power plants and plan to use the waste as energy for their mining operations. They applied to burn shredded tires to cover part of their energy needs, which local environmental groups took issue with.
