Residents of Elk County, Pennsylvania have complained about a loud, unpleasant hum coming from an abandoned natural gas well pad that has been converted into a crypto mining facility.
Why is it so noisy? Well, the process these crypto miners use is called “wellhead mining”, where the rig is powered by a motor that is directly connected to an oil or gas well. Essentially, it uses fossil fuel from an abandoned gas well to power the plant instead of connecting to a power grid. As you can imagine, these machines are large and very loud, so loud in fact that noise pollution can be heard in several surrounding townships.
To make matters worse, Capital and Main reported (opens in a new tab) that the company behind this mining operation, Diversified Production, installed and began running crypto mining equipment before obtaining permits to do so. Pennsylvania law requires companies to obtain a permit to construct or operate the engines to operate a cryptocurrency mine.
Over the past few years, crypto miners across the country have purchased abandoned natural gas wellheads, coal mines, and old steel mills to set up crypto mining operations. The Department of Environmental Protection found the Diversified Production mine in violation since it “had installed equipment for its cryptocurrency operations prior to the issuance of a planning approval issued by the Department,” according to Tom Decker of the DEP’s Northwest Regional Office. The company has environmental violations at 19 other well sites.
The report says Diversified has come under scrutiny because it has recently acquired “tens of thousands” of old gas well sites for no clearly stated purpose. The fear is that the company could increase or expand fossil fuel production in areas trying to transition to cleaner energy sources.
Environmental groups say that the emissions from this type of cryptomining (opens in a new tab)If it were to continue, it could set back decades of climate progress, particularly Pennsylvania’s climate goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by 2025.
A lobby group told Capital and Main that these Bitcoin mining facilities could act as an “environmental cleanup machine” because they connect to wells that are already leaking methane to run a “revenue-generating task” and is currently pushing legislation for states to partner with Bitcoin miners .
As for the noise, nearby communities are adjusting their zoning ordinances to require any future crypto mining projects to now be set at least 100 feet from a street or property line and stay within maximum noise levels.
For now, it appears that Diversified’s permits may be at risk of violating the state’s air pollution law with the premature installation of crypto mining equipment.
