New York is facing environmental disaster due to cryptocurrency: how it is connected
'23.04.2021'
Lyudmila Balabay
Ten years ago, the owner of the Greenidge coal-fired power plant in Dresden, New York, sold the uncompetitive facility and revoked the permit to operate it. The station stood idle for the next seven years, but now it operates as a bitcoin mining company again. The giant mining farm is powered by a 106 megawatt natural gas generator. And everything would be fine, but experts say that bitcoin mining spoils the ecology of the state of New York, writes archide.
In an effort to extract as much profit as possible from the mining of bitcoin, which has risen in price by 800% over the past year, the owners of the facility plan to quadruple the capacity of the station by the end of next year. In addition, the company plans to increase its cryptocurrency mining by 2025 times by 25.
Environmentalists believe Greenidge's ambitions could lead to an environmental disaster in the region. At the very least, mining expansion is incompatible with New York's goals of increasing green energy use. According to scientists, if you follow the state's plan, expanding the use of fossil fuels in any sector of the economy is impossible, especially with regard to cryptocurrency, which can do without environmental pollution at all. New York City law requires a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, which will be difficult to achieve in the current environment, and even with Greenidge's plans.
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Environmentalists also fear that dozens of other decommissioned power plants across the state will follow Greenidge's lead.
In a letter sent to the state's governor, environmental law group EarthJustice warned that about 30 other power plants in the state could be converted into data centers and cryptocurrency mining centers with devastating environmental impacts.
The state government is currently reviewing Greenidge's applications for renewal of air emissions permits. Environmentalists say the approval of these applications will indicate New York State is not complying with the requirements of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires the reduction of harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
Greenidge denies EarthJustice's claims, stressing that its operations are environmentally friendly and that environmental claims have no factual or legal basis.
Last year, Greenidge's greenhouse gas emissions were well below the state's annual target of 641 tonnes of carbon dioxide. However, the company has now ramped up the processing volume of Bitcoin transactions, which has increased the number of emissions by almost 000 times. Now the power plant emits 10 thousand tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which is still much lower than the norm.
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However, according to estimates by EarthJustice, if the plant is operated at full capacity, harmful emissions into the atmosphere will exceed the permissible level by 65%.
Greenidge mined 2020 bitcoins from February 2021 to February 1. The cost of a unit of cryptocurrency for the company was only about $ 186. As a reminder, this week the value of bitcoin exceeded $ 2. Greenidge is currently seeking permission from local authorities to build four more buildings in the surrounding area.
