Crypto mining in Buncombe? Commissioners are considering moratorium
ASHEVILLE – As nearby small towns battle the cryptocurrency mines that have moved into their communities, Buncombe County is considering a temporary moratorium on mining, a one-year full stop to review regulations or potentially banning the mines altogether.
At its April 4 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners set a public hearing for May 2 to consider the ordinance imposing the moratorium. If approved, staff recommends it last from May 2, 2023 to May 1, 2024.
“Based on my time on the commission, we haven’t had anything like this in front of us before,” said Commissioner Terri Wells, who first brought the conversation to the board after hearing community concerns.
“We felt we wanted to make sure that with the (comprehensive plan) coming, we have the opportunity to consider everything going forward. With the moratorium, it definitely gives us a chance to make sure we get ahead of it, and look at the big picture the picture.”
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Large cryptocurrency mining operations, which are basically large warehouses full of computers, are currently not specified as land use within the county’s zoning bylaws.
Planning Director Nate Pennington said the county currently has no applications for such projects, but a moratorium would give the county “more time” to figure out what kind of standards or other regulations should be in place.
Crypto mining has the potential to “negatively impact surrounding neighborhoods due to excessive energy use, e-waste, pollution and noise,” Pennington’s report to the board said, and a temporary moratorium would “protect the public interest and welfare of county residents until such regulations … are adopted.”
Wells also noted that cryptocurrency mining typically does not create significant economic impacts or job opportunities.
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What is cryptocurrency mining?
Cryptocurrency mining involves banks of specialized computers that complete billions of calculations every second in an attempt to win a sort of lottery against other miners. The winner verifies a block of transactions that is added to the blockchain, the virtual ledgers that underlie cryptocurrencies, and for their work, miners receive a bundle of coins that can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In North Carolina, the conversation around cryptomining largely began in the town of Murphy in Cherokee County, about 90 miles southwest of Asheville, wedged between Tennessee and Georgia in the state’s westernmost corner.
When residents brought their concerns to her, Wells said, Murphy almost always stepped up.
According to USA TODAY reporting in December 2021, Cherokee saw its first cryptocurrency mine open in 2019 in an old wire factory. A few months later, another crypto mine came to the area, and then another, with at least three mines opening in the county since 2020.
In Murphy, noise created by some of the crypto mines has begun to terrorize community members, described in some reports as an “otherworldly pitch,” and in an August story by The Washington Post, as “a jet-like roar” that never ends.
The minutes of a Jan. 23 meeting of the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners mention the introduction of a noise ordinance as an attempt to solve the “cryptomining problem.” The county attorney said the county had previously passed and submitted a resolution to the General Assembly, calling for a state law that would ban cryptomining in Cherokee County.
The demand for cryptomining — and how design standards, zoning regulations and municipal practices should change to meet it — is relatively new to much of the U.S., Pennington said, but he’s also seen other locales take interest, such as Missoula, Montana, and Pitt County, NC
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What’s next for Buncombe County?
A Buncombe County staff report says the county looked at alternative solutions to the moratorium, but found none. The zoning ordinance does not define direct cryptocurrency mining as a specific use, according to a staff presentation in February, but it is a generic classification of storage and storage.
The staff report says the one-year moratorium, if approved, would allow the county to complete its comprehensive plan and study what types of zoning districts are appropriate for this land use.
County staff are required to study and prepare an amendment to the zoning ordinance regarding cryptocurrency mining before the moratorium expires.
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News tips? Email [email protected] or message us on Twitter at @slhonosky. Support local, daily journalism with a Citizen Times subscription.
