Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), as well as Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), introduced new legislation on Thursday. If passed, this bill would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the energy consumption and environmental impact of crypto mining. California Representative Jared Huffman and Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey announced on December 8 that they were ‘sounding the alarm’ about the energy consumption of crypto mining in the United States.
Huffman said, “Granting this industry impunity to inflict such environmental harm runs counter to numerous federal policies, and we need to understand the full harm this industry presents…My bill with Senator Markey will require crypto mining facilities to report their carbon dioxide emissions, as well as a detailed interagency study on crypto’s environmental impacts — finally pulling the curtain back on this industry.”
The lawmakers said, “The Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act would direct the EPA to produce a report examining the effect miners using more than 5 megawatts of power have on greenhouse gas emissions.” They further warned that it could jeopardise US energy goals and local power grids. They also claimed that Bitcoin miners consumed approximately 1.4 percent of the country’s electricity. Notably, crypto miners responded to criticism of their use of fossil fuels in an October report published by the lobbying group Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC). The report stated that the miners had an estimated 59.4 percent sustainable energy mix in the third quarter of this year. It was up from 58.4 percent in the first quarter.
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