New York State Cryptomining Moratorium Expires Soon & Still No Environmental Impact Study

By Kathryn McGrath. EarthJustice.

ALBANY – 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.”

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.