US lawmakers ask about EPA, DOE monitoring of crypto mining emissions, energy consumption

by · July 15, 2022

Democratic lawmakers from both houses of the US Congress have sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Energy Department (DOE) informing them of their findings on energy consumption in cryptocurrency mining and asking agencies to require mining to report their emissions. and energy consumption. Meanwhile, the Paraguayan Senate, the upper house of the country’s legislature, has passed a comprehensive bill to regulate cryptocurrency and allow miners to use excess electricity generated in the country.

The six US legislators, led by crypto-cynicist Elizabeth Warren, noted in their letter of July 15 that crypto-mining in the United States has increased since it was banned by China last year. The seven crypto-mining companies that responded to lawmakers’ requests for information revealed a total capacity of 1,045 MW of electricity, equivalent to all the homes in Houston, TX, the fourth largest city in the country.

The energy consumption of crypto miners drives up prices for other consumers, the letter claimed, with reference to government and academic studies and a press release. It rejected black miners’ claims about energy efficiency, saying, “These and similar promises of clean energy use obscure a simple fact: Bitcoin miners use huge amounts of electricity that can be used for other priority end uses that contribute to our electrification and climate goals.”

Little information on emissions from crypto mining is available, the letter continued, but “Our study suggests that the overall US crypto mining industry is likely to be problematic for energy and emissions.” The authors asked the EPA and the DOE to explain their authority to collect information about the cryptocurrency industry and their plans to do so, referring to several beneficial uses for this information:

“The data collected will enable valuable public policy activities, including better monitoring of energy use and trends, better evidence base for policy making, improved data for national mitigation analyzes, better capabilities to evaluate technology policies for the sector, and better modeling of national and regional grids and transitions, among otherwise. ”

The EPA has often been the focus of legislators’ appeals regarding crypto mining, both against it and favoring it. Environmentalists and the crypto industry has also weighed in.

On July 14, the Paraguayan Senate passed a bill regulating cryptocurrency and mining. Although the cryptocurrency industry has faced opposition in Paraguay before, and the bill faced “intense debate”, it provided the industry with significant benefits.

The country’s National Securities and Exchange Commission will establish regulatory and supervisory mechanisms for industry, which will be exempt from VAT. In addition, crypto miners will have access to surplus energy at “a special electricity price that[h] can not exceed 15% above the industry rate, “according to a tweet from the bill’s Senate sponsor Fernando Silva Facetti.

Paraguay has plenty of low-cost hydropower thanks to the Itaipu Dam power plant on the Paraná River, which Paraguay shares with Brazil.