By: Andre Malo

Several local residents in the New York Town of Finger Lakes are claiming a gas-fired power plant used for Bitcoin mining is polluting the air and heating the lake.

The facility on the shores of Seneca Lake is owned by the private equity firm Atlas Holdings and operated by Greenidge Generation LLC. They have increased the electrical power output at the gas-fired plant in the past year and a half and use much of the fossil-fuel energy not for electricity for surrounding towns but for the energy-intensive “mining” of bitcoins, NBC reported.

Bitcoin “Mining” , is the way new bitcoins are added into the cryptocurrency system. To “mine” a bitcoin, which is currently valued at around $34,000 a coin, requires massive high-performance computers. Around 144 bitcoins are mined across the world currently.

Bitcoin has a total of 21 million coins in total circulation, currently 19 million have been mined. The task becomes more difficult as the supply decreases.

The computers earn small rewards of bitcoin by verifying transactions in the currency that occur on the internet around the world. The math required to verify the transactions and earn bitcoins gets more complex all the time and demands more and more computer power.

“These crypto operations are looking for anywhere that has relatively cheap power in a relatively cool climate,” said Yvonne Taylor, vice president of Seneca Lake Guardian, a nonprofit conservation advocacy told NBC “It’s a horrible business model for all of New York state, the United States and for the planet.”

One reason bitcoin mining is seen as a threat to the environment, critics say, is that new operators of power plants may continue to use permits issued years earlier without undergoing​​ in-depth ​environmental assessments, NBC reported.

NBC reported:

Atlas bought the 150-acre coal-fired Greenidge plant in 2014, three years after it had closed. Converted to natural gas, the almost 80-year-old plant began operations in 2017, generating energy to the grid only at times of high demand.

In 2019, Greenidge began using the plant to power bitcoin mining and increased its output. It still supplies surplus power to the local electrical grid, but a lot of the power it generates is now used for bitcoin mining.

Thus far, the protests have failed to stop the operation, however Maureen Wren, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Conservation, or DEC, said in a statement that it is closely monitoring Greenidge.

Wren stated “DEC will ensure a comprehensive and transparent review of its proposed air permit renewals with a particular focus on the potential climate change impacts and consistency with the nation-leading emissions limits established in the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. As the greenhouse gas emissions associated with this type of facility may be precedential and have broader implications beyond New York’s borders, DEC will consult with the U.S. EPA, the state’s Climate Action Council, and others as we thoroughly evaluate​ the complex issues involved.”