The Vilonia City Council approved a conditional use permit to allow a new crypto mining site in the city during its regular meeting Tuesday.
The crypto mining site will be located in the industrial mining district off Energy Lane and will have 15 units.
A crypto mining site is a group of computers that use electricity to “mine” virtual currency, or cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin.
The conditional use permit for the site was already approved by the Vilonia Planning Commission at its March meeting, and the site was unanimously approved once again by the City Council on Tuesday.
Mayor Preston Scroggin said the applicant for the crypto website was “flawless” in the application process and that the website has passed several technical reviews.
While Scroggin said the planning commission did not address any concerns about the site to him, some Vilonia residents have taken to social media to voice their own.
The main concern of the residents of Vilonia was the problem of the noise that the site would create. There have been many complaints from residents across the country who live near these sites about the noise pollution similar “mines” create.
Councilman Mike Matos addressed those concerns Monday when he went to an already constructed crypto mining site in Morrilton. Matos went to a cemetery across the street from the site and said in a Facebook video that he heard nothing but a “very, very faint hum” when it’s very quiet.
The site has also agreed that it will erect a “sound barrier wall” to further address the noise issues with the residents of Vilonia.
Vilonia residents on social media also had concerns about the environmental impacts of crypto mining sites, such as increasing air and water pollution, but those concerns were not addressed at Tuesday’s city council meeting other than an agreement with the site to contain the vegetation. the area and add more vegetation.
The approval of this site comes on the heels of the Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023, which was signed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week.
This law, originally House Bill 1799, allows digital asset mining businesses, or cryptomining sites, to operate in the state under certain regulations and prevents local governments, such as city councils, from “discriminating” against these businesses.
The Arkansas Data Centers Act of 2023 allows digital asset mining operations to operate in the state if those operations comply with state laws regarding business practices and tax policies, ordinances related to operations and security, and state and federal labor laws.
Individual cryptocurrency miners, by law, must pay applicable taxes and fees and operate in a manner that will not cause stress on local power grids.
The law also states that these crypto mining sites “create jobs, pay taxes and provide general economic value to local communities and this state.”
