New York judge rejects
state efforts
to shutter
bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin mine over
climateconcerns
New York judge rejects state efforts to shutter bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin mine over climate
concerns
Jake Offenhartz
New york
The Associated Press• Объект организация » Организации по алфавиту » Организации на Ас » Ассошиэйтед Пресс
Published 3 hours ago
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Like other large-scale crypto-mining operations, Greenidge relies on thousands
of electricity-guzzling computer servers that generate bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin by solving
complex equations. Julie Jacobson/The Associated Press• Объект организация » Организации по алфавиту » Организации на Ас » Ассошиэйтед Пресс
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A cryptocurrency• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта plant in central New York can continue operating after a
court rejected the state’s effort to shutter the facility over concerns about
its climate impact.
The decision was hailed as a victory by Greenidge Generation, a large-scale
crypto mine in the Finger Lakes region that has drawn the ire of environmental
groups and watchdogs since it began mining bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin four years ago.
Like other large-scale crypto-mining operations, Greenidge relies on thousands
of electricity-guzzling computer servers that generate bitcoin• Экономика » Финансы » Платежные средства » Платежные системы интернета » Криптовалюта » Bitcoin by solving
complex equations. To power those servers, Greenidge uses a former
coal-burning plant that was converted to natural gas in 2017 after years of
disuse.
In 2022, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation denied a
required air permit to the plant on the grounds that its greenhouse gas• Метеорология » Климатология » Изменение климата » Глобальное потепление » Парниковые газы
• Метеорология » Климатология » Парниковые газы
• Политика » Геополитика » Международные отношения » Направления международного сотрудничества » Изменение климата » Глобальное потепление » Парниковые газы
• Экология » Охрана окружающей среды » Глобальное потепление » Парниковые газы
emissions ran afoul of the state’s ambitious climate goals.
In response to a lawsuit by the corporation, State Supreme Court Justice
Vincent M. Dinolfo ruled Thursday that the agency had failed to give Greenidge
an opportunity to justify its alleged violation, an “interpretative error”
under the law.
“Transparent political bias lost today,” Greenidge said in a prepared
statement. “The ruling ensures our facility will continue operating and our
local employees will not have their careers ripped away by politically
motivated governmental overreach that had no basis in law from the first day
it began.”
A coalition of environmental groups, meanwhile, allege Greenidge is pumping
millions of pounds of carbon dioxide into the air, while contaminating the
nearby Seneca Lake with daily discharges of heated water required to run the
plant.
“The Finger Lakes community has been sounding the alarm on the disastrous
impacts of this facility on their water, air, and climate,” said Mandy
DeRoche, a deputy managing attorney in the Clean Energy Program at
Earthjustice. “We will continue our fight until Greenidge shuts down for
good,”
In rejecting the permit, the DEC said the plant had misled regulators about
the true purpose of the conversion. “Instead of helping to meet the current
electricity needs of the state as originally described, the facility is
operating primarily to meet its own significant new energy load,” the agency
said in its letter to the company.
A spokesperson for the DEC did not respond to a request for comment about the
decision.
Greenidge has said it is in compliance with its permits and that the plant is
100% carbon neutral, thanks to the purchase of carbon offsets such as forestry
programs and projects that capture methane from landfills.
Yvonne Taylor, a vice president at Seneca Lake Guardian, said the facility was
a test case for the state’s ability to enforce a raft of climate laws. She
worried the recent election of Donald Trump, who received billions of dollars
from the crypto industry, would further weaken efforts to enforce those
protections.
“Greenidge being permitted to continue operating flies in the face of our
state climate goals and what we’ve spent generations working for in our
community,” Taylor said. “It’s not serving any public purpose or benefit other
than making a few people who are already rich, richer.”
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