Another NC County Moves to Stop Bitcoin Mining. Here’s why
Citing excessive energy use, noisy operations, pollution and electronic waste, Buncombe County placed a one-year moratorium on any new cryptocurrency mining.
The vote in Asheville follows a ban on the server farms approved last year in Clay County, in the mountains southwest of Asheville. Neighboring Macon County is also considering a ban on mining.
In December, Cherokee County passed a resolution asking the legislature for more power to regulate cryptocurrency mines.
Cryptocurrency miners use server farms to run complicated algorithms to “mine” Bitcoin and similar digital currencies. They use warehouses full of powerful computers that require a lot of power. The operations have brought complaints from nearby residents about 24-hour noise from servers and cooling equipment in previously quiet rural areas in the North Carolina mountains.
The server farms are drawn to western North Carolina by low-cost energy and lax regulations, according to a recent report by the Environmental Working Group.
Cryptocurrency miners have also been looking for new places to set up shop since China banned most of their operations two years ago, according to the Associated Press.
Buncombe County Planning Director Nathan Pennington said the county is working on a new comprehensive plan.
“This one-year break gives us time to work with residents and craft standards,” he said.
The commission adopted the moratorium unanimously last week.
“The motoratory will maintain the status quo by limiting any adverse effects in neighborhoods affected by this use until a proper regulatory scheme can be developed,” the ordinance states.
The ban would expire after one year or when the county comes up with new rules for where the server farms can be located. It includes only unincorporated areas of Buncombe County.
“They have proven to be a nuisance to neighbors and a threat to our environment,” Chris Joyell, with the environmental group Mountain True, said during a public hearing on the temporary ban in Buncombe County.
“There is no way to greenwash cryptomining. Even if miners claim they rely on renewable energy, their operation is still high energy which we need to meet county and state carbon reduction goals,” he said.
But not everyone at the hearing supported the moratorium. Craig Deutsch told the commissions the moratorium could discourage new industry in the county.
Cryptomining, he said, could “encourage innovation and bring new industry to the area.”
Noise issues should already be addressed by noise ordinances, said Dennis Fassuliotis, director of the South Carolina Emerging Tech Association, who spoke at the public hearing.
He also countered the environmental arguments against the server farms.
“Bitcoin mining specifically does not produce any greenhouse gases per se. It uses a mix of the grid that everyone else uses,” Fassuliotis told the commission. “Bitcoin is the industry leader in sustainability.”
New York lawmakers last year passed a 2-year ban on new cryptocurrency miners that wanted to retrofit old fossil fuel power plants to power their servers.
