US Senator Elizabeth Ann Warren has written a letter to Jeffrey Kirt, CEO, Greenidge Generation Holdings, Inc.
In the detailed letter, Warren expresses her concern over the environmental impact caused by Greenidge’s bitcoin mining operations.
Operations may have a negative impact
The Greenidge Generation Power Plant is one of the largest bitcoin mining facilities in the US.
The plant has transitioned from a coal plant to a natural gas plant and has recently begun generating electricity to mine bitcoin.
Bitcoin mining involves solving complex, unique puzzles. This process requires extraordinary power-gobbling computers to solve them. As a result, carbon emissions and high energy usage are inevitable.
Environmentalists perceive bitcoin mining as a threat to the climate. “The current state of our climate demands action on cryptocurrency mining,” Liz Moran of Earthjustice lamented
Senator Warren, too, seeks clarity “on the impact these operations may be having on climate change, the local environment, and the cost of electricity for retail consumers.”
In her letter, the US Senator highlights other raised concerns from the local residents. One local petitioner is quoted to have told a court, that a lake that the Greenidge water discharge flows into, has been overtaken by ” sludge, algae, insects, dead fish, and foul smells.”
Greenidge “Environmental Stewardship”
Greenidge seems committed to running a “green business.”
Their website, expresses their commitment, priorities, contribution towards environmental stewardship.
Firstly, Greenidge claims to be “the first and only vertically integrated power generator and bitcoin miner of scale in the United States that is 100% carbon neutral.”
It continues to say “In Upstate New York, we transformed a former coal-fired plant into a clean-burning natural gas power plant, significantly reducing historic carbon emissions at the facility. In South Carolina, approximately two-thirds of our electricity is sourced from zero-carbon sources such as nuclear power, and we have committed to offsetting the operation’s remaining carbon footprint, building on our record in New York State of operating a fully carbon-neutral mining business.”
Warren’s letter to Jeffrey, however, points out a detailed series of effects that are contrary to the plants’ prior quality commitment.
She cites records from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation that “greenhouse gas emissions increased nearly tenfold from 2019 to 2020.”
Jeffrey to respond to Warren in writing
Warren has listed some questions to which she expects a response in writing ” no later than December 17.”
