Concerns about a cryptocurrency mining facility proposed for an area east of Doniphan brought 10 people to Tuesday’s Hall County Commission meeting.
Seven of the landowners spoke to the board, most of them expressing their opposition to the data center, which would be built at 2502 E. Giltner Road, close to the Hamilton County line.
The project would be built by ArchGreen Infrastructure, which already has one such facility in Hall County. In January, the Hall County board approved a data center in the Southern Public Power Energy Park, on land leased from Southern Public Power District. That project is still being constructed.
Crypto-mining is a digital process where, each time a transaction is validated, it is added to a ledger or “blockchain” and earns a digital “coin.” The computers in the data center would engage in such transactions continuously.
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ArchGreen is now seeking a conditional use permit on land owned by Cheryl Schultz, who lives at 2838 E. Cedar View Road. Schultz said she lives a mile and a half away from the site.
Computer equipment housed inside the data center’s 14 containers would mine cryptocurrency. The area would be surrounded by a security fence.
ArchGreen was represented Tuesday by Alan Cordova, a California resident who also appeared before the commission in January.
Cordova noted that that the data center’s closest neighbors would live more than half a mile away. Because the area is near a shelter belt, people would hardly be able to see it from the road, he said. It would not be “an eyesore by any means, because it’s tucked away,” he said. Cordova said he would accept conditions set down by the board, as he did in January.
Area residents complained about the noise the data center would generate. They also said it would harm the appearance of the area.
Dave Hoffman said the area is currently peaceful. The data center, he said, would bring noise pollution. “This really belongs in an industrial area, not out in rural Hall County,” Hoffman said.
He also criticized cryptocurrency mining. “This is a way to launder money,” he said.
Doug Happold said the project would bring light pollution as well as noise. He also expressed uncertainty about cryptocurrency, saying he’s “not real sure what it is.”
Some attendees questioned how much water the project will use.
Barbara Marsh, who lives in Hamilton County, said it’d always been her dream to live in the country.
“If I walk out my back door, that’s what I’m going to see,” she said.
She also talked about the noise. The project, she said, would be built by “out-of-state investors, looking to line their pockets at the expense of our community.”
One reason ArchGreen likes the area is because of its competitive electric rates, Cordova said.
ArchGreen would be the data center’s host, making it available to other companies.
In an interview, Cordova said the data center will have “a variety of applications — primarily cryptocurrency mining.”
The data, he said, involve computations and “mining mathematical equations.”
The data would not come from people who live in this area. The work would be global, he said. “The data itself is not tied to a specific location.”
In addition to the attractive electric rates, ArchGreen likes the friendly business environment in Nebraska, he said.
ArchGreen “looked at a lot of states,” chose “this area for our first project and are eager to develop a second project here,” Cordova said.
If things go well, Cordova said, the county’s first data center will be done in January.
Two representatives of Southern Public Power spoke at the meeting.
After the public hearing, the commission was not able to take action, because the issue was not listed on the agenda.
The commission invited the public to return at 9:10 a.m. Oct. 24.
Commissioner Scott Sorensen said he doesn’t expect the subject to take much time that day. A couple of other commissioners agreed.
Chairman Ron Peterson said that personally, he’d like to see the first data center begin operation before the commission addresses a second one.