Regional leaders oppose latest crypto-mining firm

Environmental advocates are trying to stop another crypto-mining company in New York. Namely, Digihost/Fortistar North Tonawanda, which is looking to renew the air permit for its plant just north of Buffalo.

Ithaca Assembly-member Anna Kelles says Digihost is already a polluter in the community and that documents show it plans to ramp up production to 24-7, year-round.

“It’s carbon emissions are projected to increase by over 1,000%,” Kelles said. “According to the company’s own projections, their emissions would be the equivalent of 63,170 cars being driven for an entire year. And local pollution such as methane and nitrogen oxides are also projected to increase.”

Kelles and other advocates held a press conference Tuesday, urging Gov. Kathy Hochul not to renew Digihost’s air permit.

To be clear, crypto-mining doesn’t mean digging underground. But it does typically mean burning huge amounts of fossil fuels to power the computers that create cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin.

In November, Hochul signed a two-year moratorium on new permits for certain types of crypto-mining plants. Called a first in the nation, it was drafted by Kelles. But it didn’t ban old permits that come up for renewal.

Liz Moran wants to change that. She’s a policy advocate for environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice.

“It is insane that we have to be playing Whack-a-Mole with these facilities when we are the state with a nation-leading climate law on the books,” Moran said. “Thankfully, the Department of Environmental Conservation followed that law when they denied the air permit for the Greenidge facility. Of course, that is still going through a process right now.”

Moran thinks Hochul’s administration did the right thing in banning Greenidge and hopes they’ll do the same with Digihost.

A natural-gas-fired crypto-mining plant in Dresden, owned by Greenidge Generation, was shut down by the DEC last year. However, the plant is still running, as the company appeals the DEC’s decision.