요점:
- 뉴욕에 기반을 둔 암호화폐 채굴 시설인 Greenidge Generation은 채굴 회사가 환경과 지역 사회에 미치는 영향에 대한 주 및 국가 토론의 중심에 있습니다.
- 적어도 뉴욕에서는 이 논쟁이 Greenidge와 같은 회사를 대상으로 하는 법안으로 이어졌습니다.
- 더 큰 비트코인 채굴 논쟁에서 모든 측이 사용하는 수사법은 종종 잘못된 정보에 기반을 두고 있지만, 북부 뉴욕의 환경운동가들은 실제로 부정확한 주장으로 입법에 영향을 미치고 있습니다.
- 그러나 시설 근처에 사는 지역 주민들은 그들이 대화에서 제외되었다고 말하며 더 광범위한 논쟁은 Greenidge가 그들의 삶에서 하는 역할을 무시합니다.
드레스덴, 뉴욕 — 작년에 Kathy Hochul 주지사는 가스 발전소와 같은 탄소 기반 에너지원으로 구동되는 새로운 암호화폐 채굴 시설에 대한 2년 금지에 서명했습니다.
획기적인 뉴욕법은 비트코인(BTC) 채굴이 뉴욕주에 미치는 영향에 대한 몇 달 간의 논쟁 끝에 나왔습니다. 이 논쟁의 중심에 있는 비트코인을 채굴하는 발전소인 Greenidge Generation 인근 지역 조합원과 주민들은 모라토리엄에 반대했습니다. 이 법안의 지지자들은 이 식물이 빙하호에 뜨거운 물을 뿜어내어 수천 마리의 물고기를 죽이고 다른 수생 생물에 해를 끼치는 독성 녹조의 원인이 되었다고 주장했습니다.
카유가 레이크(Cayuga Lake) 남쪽과 동쪽의 여러 마을을 대표하는 민주당 의원 안나 켈스(Anna Kelles) 뉴욕주 하원의원, 지구정의(Earthjustice), 시에라 클럽(Sierra Club)과 같은 국가 환경 단체, 세네카 레이크 가디언(Seneca Lake Guardian)과 같은 초지역 단체를 포함한 이 법안의 지지자들은 이 법안의 통과를 주요 법안으로 예고했습니다. 승리. 이제 그들은 전국적인 싸움을 벌이고 있습니다.
올해에만 Kelles는 미국 상원의 환경 및 공공 사업 소위원회와 펜실베니아 하원의 환경 자원 및 에너지 위원회에서 증언했습니다. 상원 의장인 에드 마키 상원의원(민주당-매사추세츠)은 이번 청문회를 “오랫동안 의회에서 개최된 가장 유익한 청문회 중 하나”라고 말했습니다.
Kelles는 상원 청문회에서 “Greenidge와 같은 시설은 또한 수중 생물에 부정적인 영향을 미쳐 매년 수천 마리의 물고기를 죽이고 야생 동물과 인간 모두에게 유독한 유해 녹조 발생 위험을 증가시킵니다”라고 말했습니다.
그러나 큰 문제가 있습니다. Kelles와 그녀의 동맹국이 사용하는 수사법의 대부분은 의도가 분명하지만 사실이 아닙니다. 예를 들어, Greenidge가 세네카 호수의 평균 기온을 상승시키거나 유해한 녹조 현상을 일으키거나 제트 엔진의 시끄러운 소음을 내뿜는 등 환경 운동가들의 많은 진술은 주에서 수집한 데이터와 대면을 통해 쉽게 반증됩니다. 경험.
동시에 업계 로비스트와 지지자들은 비트코인 채굴의 잠재적 이점을 숨가쁘게 선전하고 있습니다. 암호화 산업의 이 부문은 재생 가능 에너지 또는 청정 에너지에 대한 투자를 늘리고 에너지 그리드를 강화할 수 있다고 말했습니다. 개선됩니다. 가장 열렬한 비트코인 옹호자들은 그들에게 동의하지 않는 사람을 공격합니다. 이번 달, 펜실베니아 주의회 의원들 앞에서 비트코인 채굴에 대해 증언하던 Kelles의 트위터 계정을 누군가가 해킹하여 15분 동안 명성을 누리고 있던 밈 코인인 pepecoin(PEPE)을 홍보하기 위해 그녀의 피드를 사용했습니다.
이러한 논쟁은 고도로 정치화되었고, 환경론자와 비트코이너 사이의 거의 다루기 힘든 갈등이 되었습니다. 표면적으로는 환경 논쟁이며 핵심은 암호화폐 산업이 세계에 제공하는 가치에 대한 철학적 논쟁입니다. 명확하고 잠재적으로 무거운 환경 비용을 부담할 가치가 있습니다.
채굴에 대한 논쟁은 지금까지 실제로 뉘앙스에 들어가지 않고 이 철학적 대화만 골랐습니다. CoinDesk는 비트코인 채굴이 “가치 있는” 것인지에 대한 질문에 대답하려고 시도하지도 않습니다.
뉴욕은 텍사스와 함께 그 논쟁의 핫스팟이 되었고 Greenidge는 뜻밖의 포스터 아이가 되었습니다. 텍사스주 오스틴 외곽에 있는 Riot Platforms 센터와 같은 다른 채굴 시설이 비트코인 채굴 논쟁에서 더 큰 역할을 했지만 Greenidge는 올버니(뉴욕의 수도)와 워싱턴 DC의 토론에서 두드러진 위치를 차지합니다.
Greenidge가 고유한 역할을 하고 있으며 이러한 다양한 시설과 주변 커뮤니티에 미치는 영향을 직접 비교하는 것은 어렵다는 점에 유의하는 것이 중요합니다. Riot은 기존(때로는 불안정한) 에너지 그리드를 활용하고 Greenidge는 자체 전기를 생성합니다. 워싱턴 북부에 있는 광산 시설과 같은 다른 광산 시설은 제한된 양의 전력에 의존하거나 커뮤니티에서 집단적으로 지불한 전력을 사용할 수 있습니다. 개인이 사용할 수 있습니다. 테네시의 한 카운티는 부분적으로 광산에서 발생하는 소음으로 인해 지역 광산을 고소하고 있습니다. 드레스덴의 일부 지역 주민들은 불만이 그들에게는 적용되지 않는다고 말합니다.
Greenidge를 둘러싼 논쟁과 언론 보도는 뉴욕 드레스덴의 현실을 고려하지 않은 눈덩이처럼 불어나는 잘못된 정보 모음의 일부가 되었습니다.
잘못된 정보 눈덩이
이 잘못된 정보 눈덩이는 국가 담론에서 과장된 사소한 진술과 잘못된 가정에 기반한 대규모 캠페인으로 구성됩니다.
예를 들어, 2021년 7월, 세네카 호수에 집과 땅이 있는 지역 환경 운동가인 Abi Buddington은 NBC에 호수가 “너무 따뜻해서 온수 욕조에 있는 것처럼 느껴진다”고 말했습니다. Buddington의 발언은 Ars Technica 및 Business Insider를 포함한 주요 매체에서 포착되었습니다.
Buddington later clarified that she meant not the lake itself, but the water near Greenidge’s discharge pipes (the facility uses water from the lake for cooling, as it has since it was built in 1937 as a coal-fired power plant) in Keuka Outlet.
And while Buddington was correct in asserting that Greenidge is putting warmer water back into the lake than it takes in, the water discharged is nowhere near the “hot tub” temperature or 108 degrees Fahrenheit activists and Kelles claim it is.
The average temperature difference between Greenidge’s water intake and its output is between 9 and 13 degrees – making it roughly 32 degrees below the level permitted by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, a Greenidge spokesperson said in response to CoinDesk’s inquiry. NBC News reported that 108 degrees is the maximum allowed temperature for water Greenidge puts back into the lake, contradicting Kelles’ claim that that was the actual temperature of the water discharge. The local activists at Seneca Lake Guardian accused Greenidge of strawmanning its critics, asserting that “no one ever said” Greenidge was discharging water at that temperature, but Kelles has said so often, including in a February 2022 press release.
Furthermore, the average temperature of Seneca Lake has remained generally consistent over the past few years, Vice News’ Motherboard reported, citing data from scientists at local Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
According to Motherboard’s investigation, the college has recorded a steady, annual 0.2 degrees Celsius rise in temperature for Seneca Lake since the mid-1990s, indicating the lake is warming slowly, but that rise has not been correlated with Greenidge’s operation.
Despite Buddington’s subsequent clarification, the ball was already rolling. In December 2021, less than six months after NBC’s article was published, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Greenidge Generation’s CEO demanding information about the firm’s impact on climate change and the local environment. Her letter cited local residents’ concerns about “the temperature of water outflow.”
The water temperature misrepresentation is just one example of how an incredibly nuanced subject has become something of a political and emotional flashpoint for environmentalists and bitcoiners alike.
Complicating matters, bitcoin mining’s supporters have too-often chosen to combat misinformation with misinformation of their own or, at best, bad-faith trolling.
A recent video from Riot Platforms in response to a New York Times article about the pollution created by bitcoin mining facetiously claimed that “bitcoin mining has zero carbon emissions” based on indoor carbon dioxide testing at the Bitdeer mining facility in Rockdale, Texas.
If taken at face value, that would obviously be a disingenuous statement. If it’s a joke, as Riot claimed after receiving online backlash, it wasn’t widely recognized as such and served mainly to incense the other side.
It is not a question that bitcoin mining is energy intensive. In 2020, the most recent year data is available from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Greenidge emitted a massive 288,440 tons of carbon dioxide into the air.
Some locals are OK with that, given the benefits the facility brings.
Steve Griffin, a native of New York’s Yates County and the CEO of the Finger Lakes Economic Development Center, a quasi-governmental organization tasked with growing the economy in Yates, said that despite Greenidge’s emissions, concerns that it’s harming local wildlife may be overblown.
“We know the value and the importance of the lakes’ worth and in our environment or climate. I mean, we’re a big agricultural community, we know what the value is of the climate,” he said. “We wouldn’t want to incentivize anything that was going to clearly negatively impact that.”
Other examples of the misinformation surrounding the Greenidge debate range from debates about how many employment opportunities it provides to the impact it has on the local electricity grid.
Griffin과 같은 지역 목소리는 Greenidge에 대한 논쟁과 암호화폐 채굴이 더 광범위하게 진행되는 동안 대부분 묻혀 버렸습니다.
지역 목소리
2022년 중반, CoinDesk 기자들은 Finger Lakes 지역을 방문하여 Seneca Lake에 있는 Greenidge 시설 근처의 작은 마을을 방문하고 지역 주민, 기업, 마을 공무원 및 노조원들과 이야기를 나누며 개조된 발전소에 대한 견해를 들었습니다.
이번 방문은 드레스덴의 마을 시장인 윌리엄 홀에 따르면 전례가 없는 일이었습니다. Greenidge를 둘러싼 미디어 서커스에도 불구하고 Hall은 한 번도 Greenidge에 대해 기자, 로비스트 또는 정치인으로부터 연락을 받은 적이 없다고 말했습니다. 여기에는 성공적인 비즈니스의 예로 Greenidge를 사용하는 비트코인 지지자와 그것이 지역 환경에 해를 끼치고 있다고 말하는 비평가가 모두 포함됩니다.
When CoinDesk contacted Hall again in May 2023, his staff confirmed that no one had called or visited him to speak about Greenidge since our last visit.
“Nobody has ever come to talk to us about it,” Hall said. “We need people from somewhere to take an interest, to come talk to the people that are benefitting [from Greenidge’s presence], not the anti-[Greenidge] people that don’t even live here.”
In Hall’s telling, only the so-called “cottage people” – wealthy out-of-towners with lake houses or plans to retire on Seneca Lake – were upset about Greenidge’s presence. One of the “cottage people” Hall referenced was Buddington.
“We had a lady down on Arrowhead Beach that was very, very involved in the anti-[Greenidge] side,” Hall said. “[Buddington and her husband] are Rochester residents, eventually going to live here when they retire, which I understand. She told the press that the water in front of her cottage was bathwater warm. And that morning, someone had already checked the temperature and it was in the 40s.”
Buddington did not respond to a request for comment.
드레스덴에 거주하는 300여명의 주민 대부분이 공장을 지지한다고 홀은 말했다. 그들은 호수에서 오랜 시간 존재하는 것에 대해 잘 알고 있었고, 지역 병원을 위한 값비싼 새 CT 스캐너 비용의 일부를 충당하고 유압식 “생명의 턱”과 같은 지역 사회에 대한 경영진의 기여에 감사했습니다. 75세의 홀이 여전히 의용소방대원으로 근무하고 있는 소방서 구조시스템.
드레스덴 전역에 걸쳐 Greenidge의 투자에 대한 (문자 그대로) 징후가 있었습니다. 회사는 어린이들을 위한 지역 놀이터와 마을 사람들을 환영하는 전광판을 후원했습니다.
코인데스크가 인터뷰한 지역 주민과 사업주를 포함한 많은 사람들은 Greenidge가 Greenidge에 대한 의견이 있다면 호수에 있는 Greenidge의 존재가 지역에 좋다는 데 동의했습니다.
항공 허가 거부
CoinDesk spoke to Hall less than two weeks after NYSDEC decided to deny Greenidge’s application to renew its Title V air permit – five-year permits required to operate facilities deemed as high polluters (Cornell University, for example, is another facility in the region with a Title V Air permit).
The decision came after a lengthy campaign against Greenidge by environmental groups, in which 4,000 letters were submitted to NYSDEC – 98% of which were anti-Greenidge.
Though Greenidge was operating within the limits set by its NYSDEC-granted permits, the Department claimed its decision to deny the renewal application was “based on the determination that the facility’s continued operation would be inconsistent or would interfere with the attainment of the Statewide greenhouse emission limits” established by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), an ambitious plan to reach zero net emissions by 2050.
“The very first hearing, they bussed people in here. You couldn’t move in the village. But they were not residents, they came from a long ways away.”
Dresden Mayor William Hall
Three months before NYSDEC’s denial, however, Greenidge argued that it was already compliant with CLCPA guidelines and even proposed adding two new binding emissions limits to its renewed permits – to reduce permitted greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by the end of 2025, five years before the CLCPA’s first targets in 2030, and to become a zero-carbon-emitting power generation facility by 2035.
The issue, to Hall, felt so cut-and-dried in favor of Greenidge that the massive outcry against it came as a shock.
“Through this whole thing, the [pro-bitcoin] groups have been weak,” Hall said, noting that the environmentalists, on the other hand, have mounted a strong campaign.
“The very first hearing, they bussed people in here. You couldn’t move in the village. But they were not residents, they came from a long ways away,” Hall said.
“그것은 내가 얻는 지점까지 나를 화나게 합니다…” Hall은 말을 더듬었습니다. “모든 종류의 돈과 정치적 지원을 받아 수백 년 동안 지속되어 온 이러한 [환경] 그룹 중 일부를 보면 그들은 여기 작은 커뮤니티로 왔고 이런 일이 일어났습니다. 그들은 당신을 압도합니다.”
좋은 직업이 없다
Hall과 Greenidge의 다른 지역 지지자들은 비트코인에 별로 관심이 없습니다. 그러나 그들이 관심을 갖는 것은 일자리입니다.
명확하게 말하면, 많은 비트코인 채굴자들의 주장에도 불구하고 모든 비트코인 채굴 작업인 Greenidge는 이 지역의 주요 고용주가 아닙니다. 비트코인 채굴 작업을 운영하는 데는 많은 사람이 필요하지 않으며 생성된 대부분의 작업은 임시 건설 역할이거나 유지 보수 또는 보안과 같은 저임금 직책입니다.
But, in upstate New York – a region once defined by a plethora of well-paid and unionized manufacturing jobs that have dried up – a job is a job. Many towns that were once filled with working-class families have withered as the plants that provided their residents’ jobs closed and moved overseas. The Finger Lakes region is no exception.
Griffin, of the development center, said Greenidge employs 54 people, paying roughly twice as much as the traditional manufacturing salaries in the area.
Griffin, who is also a basketball coach at the local high school, told CoinDesk that it was rewarding to see some of his students go to work for Greenidge after graduation.
“Kids I used to coach are now working near home, where you never would have expected that. Their parents sure wouldn’t have expected their kids to be able to live near them, making more money than they probably made out of college,” Griffin said. “It’s honestly everything from an economic development perspective you’d hope it to be.”
Mike Davis, the business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 840, said Greenidge is an important source of work for union members, especially during slow winter months when construction normally slows down.
IBEW’s workers, Davis said, have good paying jobs – especially by local standards, where the major employer is the region’s $3 billion agri-tourism industry, which mainly provides low-paid and often part-time labor and hospitality jobs. A junior wireman, according to Davis, makes $38.95 per hour, with an additional $20 per hour in benefits.
In the summer months, Davis said Greenidge typically needed six to eight of the Union’s electrical workers at any one time, but that number was closer to 40 in the winter months – the company deliberately scheduled certain upgrades and similar operations for those winter months, Davis said, so as to keep these workers employed.
If Greenidge were to shutter its operation, Davis said, winters could be tough to find enough work to keep all his members paid.
데이비스는 “아마도 10~15가구에 영향을 미칠 것”이라고 말했다. “겨울 동안 Greenidge에서 일하는 사람이 15명 줄어들면 그 지역에 사람을 보낼 일자리가 15명 줄어듭니다.”
전국에 지부를 두고 있는 IBEW는 채굴 중단을 통과시키려는 Kelles의 추진에 반대하는 목소리를 높여 왔습니다. 노조의 야당은 이전 의회 세션에서 법안을 통과시키려는 Kelles의 첫 번째 시도를 중단시킨 책임이 있지만 Kelles의 두 번째 시도에서 법안이 궁극적으로 승리하는 것을 막기에는 충분하지 않았습니다.
Kelles는 CoinDesk의 여러 논평 요청에 응답하지 않았습니다.
오해 풀기
국회의원과 지역 활동가들이 Seneca Lake 주변의 환경을 보호하기 위해 수십 개의 노동 조합 일자리를 기꺼이 희생하는 것은 이해할 수 있습니다.
In their telling, Greenidge is a monstrosity, a gas-guzzling “cancer” that blights the otherwise serene, rolling hills surrounding the glacial lake, as Yvonne Taylor, vice president of Seneca Lake Guardian put it in a press release,
Activists like Taylor express anger that the power plant, built in 1937 but mothballed in 2011, was purchased by a Connecticut-based private-equity firm, converted to a natural gas–fired plant and brought back online – something they see as a step backward.
Easily disproved is Kelles’ assertion that the area surrounding Greenidge sounds like standing near a “jet engine on a tarmac.”
When CoinDesk visited the facility last summer – standing outside, because Greenidge, which has been notoriously tight-lipped with the press, did not respond to CoinDesk’s repeated requests to tour the facility – the only sounds to be heard were the soft whooshing of fans and bird calls.
Another major complaint from Taylor and activists like her is that the warm water Greenidge is putting back into Seneca Lake – the same process used by the facility since 1937 – is contributing to harmful algal blooms (HABs) on Seneca Lake. If true, that would be worrisome. HABs (essentially, explosions of algae) can be devastating to aquatic life.
This is a claim activists have repeated over and over and over again.
But here’s the rub: data shows that each of the Finger Lakes – not just Seneca Lake – has experienced HABs in recent years. There is not a power plant on any of the other lakes. The first reported cyanobacterial HAB on Seneca Lake was in 2015 – two years before the plant re-started and five years before it began mining bitcoin.
Furthermore, the State of New York commissioned a report on Seneca and Keuka lakes last August that found that phosphorus discharges are “considered the primary substance affecting water quality and the usability of the resource for both aquatic habitat and human uses.” Greenidge’s operation does not discharge phosphorus, a compound found in most fertilizers.
Bruce Murray has kept a fairly low profile in the debate. His winery, Boundary Breaks, sits on the east side of Seneca Lake and occupies 150 acres opposite Greenidge.
He told CoinDesk that in the last 25 years, there have been substantial changes in the aquatic condition of Seneca Lake. The salinity of the lake has risen (there are several salt mines in the area), the population of lake trout has decreased and invasive species of wildlife, like quagga mussels, have proliferated.
Activists have also repeatedly reiterated concerns that Greenidge’s intake pipes were responsible for sucking up fish, larvae and other aquatic critters and killing them. Greenidge spent $6 million constructing and installing wedge-wire fish screens in response to concerns.
CoinDesk tried to reach Taylor, calling and emailing several times to get Seneca Lake Guardian’s side of the story. When a reporter finally reached her by phone, Taylor was curt.
“We’re not interested in working with you, OK?” Taylor said, before hanging up.
‘매우 정치적이다’
지역 환경 단체 주장의 부정확성은 Hall 및 Davis와 같은 Greenidge의 지역 지지자들을 괴롭히고 있습니다.
데이비스는 코인데스크에 자신의 조합원 대부분이 대대로 이 지역에 가족이 살았던 지역 주민이며, 그들 중 다수는 열렬한 사냥꾼이자 어부라고 말했다.
“우리는 먼저 나서서 ‘이봐, 이것은 호수에 좋지 않으며 더 이상 관심이 없습니다.’라고 말했지만 사실은 그렇지 않습니다.”라고 Davis는 말했습니다. “그 조류 꽃은 모든 호수에 있고 모든 호수에 발전소가 없습니다. 그 이유를 알아보기 위해 테스트하지 않는 이유는 무엇입니까? 왜 우리는 단지 손가락을 가리키며 Greenidge라고 말하는 거죠?”
“[Kelles’s] region has been notoriously environmentally friendly,” Davis added. “She goes to her base, and that’s her base. It’s very political. It’s very divisive. And, unfortunately, most of the time, the information that’s out there is from a special interest group. But the real information, if you sit down and look at it, doesn’t add up.”
Griffin, too, expressed frustration with what he described as the “constant punching back-and-forth” between environmentalists and bitcoiners over Greenidge.
He speculated that the real issue for the anti-Greenidge camp was that bitcoin simply wasn’t relevant to their lives. When other data centers open up, Griffin said, there are ribbon cuttings.
Hall, the Dresden mayor, appeared to agree.
“절대적으로 이해하지 못하는 사람들이 있습니다.”라고 그는 말했습니다. “누군가가 그들에게 나쁜 점을 말했고 당신은 여러 사람이 있습니다. 우리는 여기 지역에 일부 있습니다 – 그것은 단지 질투일 뿐입니다. 그들은 1층에 들어가지 않았고, 돈을 벌고 있지 않습니다. 그래서 아무도 돈을 벌지 못할 것입니다. 그리고 있습니다.”
와이너리 소유주 머레이는 코인데스크에 돈을 벌고 싶은 욕구를 이해하고 에너지 사용에 원칙적으로 반대하지는 않지만 비트코인의 요점을 보지 못했다고 말했다.
“그들은 그곳에서 수천 대의 채굴기를 돌릴 수 있습니다.”라고 그는 말했습니다. “무엇 때문에, 질문입니다. 무엇 때문에?”
그리드 문제
While bitcoin’s relevance may be debatable, the need for a consistent and reliable source of power is not. Meeting the state’s increasing energy demand, which is ballooning as more electric cars come online (electric vehicles are expected to gobble up 14% of New York’s total energy output by 2050), is not currently possible without fossil fuels.
The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), which monitors the state’s power grid, said in its 2022 annual analysis that the grid is strained by the “deactivation of generation resources that provide critical reliability services to the grid.”
Griffin told CoinDesk that Greenidge is, first and foremost, a power generation plant.
“Their primary operating purpose is to generate power and send it to the grid when the grid needs it,” Griffin said. “Every day, power goes from that plant to the grid. Every single day.”
When the power isn’t needed, Griffin explained, Greenidge uses its excess capacity – which would otherwise be wasted – to power its bitcoin mining operation.
NYISO, the state’s independent entity which oversees its power generators, referred CoinDesk to its Gold Book annual report in response to a request for comment about how much electricity Greenidge provides to the state’s energy grid or what shuttering Greenidge might mean for it. A spokesperson told CoinDesk the entity did not have any data on how much of the energy generated goes to the grid, versus mining.
Before Greenidge began mining bitcoin, it sent an average of 186,878 megawatts (MW) of power to New York’s grid, according to data provided by a Greenidge spokesperson. After its bitcoin mining operation came online, the amount of power Greenidge was sending to the grid – excess power that was not consumed by bitcoin mining – was comparable, at a yearly average of 184,889 megawatts of power.
A review of Greenidge’s most recent quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicated it did indeed generate revenue from selling electricity to the NYISO, but only provided dollar figures and not the electricity mix itself. Bitcoin mining is more profitable than selling electricity to NYISO, based on these filings. According to both the filing and NYISO’s annual report, Greenidge reported a nameplate capacity of 106 MW per hour for 2022. That translates to an annual capacity of 928,560 MW, though Greenidge says it doesn’t operate to that maximum capacity.
Davis, the IBEW director, told CoinDesk he’s sympathetic to desires to get away from natural gas as an electricity source.
“하지만 지금 당장은 이것이 당신의 선택입니다.” 데이비스가 말했습니다. “수요가 증가할 때 태양이 비치지 않고 바람이 불지 않으면 전력이 없는 것입니다. 어딘가에 생성해야 합니다.”
실제 정책
비트코인 채굴은 환경에 실질적이고 가시적인 영향을 미칩니다. 그 사실은 의심의 여지가 없습니다. 광부가 기존 에너지 그리드 또는 소스를 활용하는 곳에서 설명되지 않은 수요를 창출합니다. 광부가 자체 발전 시설을 개발하는 곳에서는 화석 연료를 더 많이 사용할 수 있습니다.
재생 가능 에너지원이 있는 지역에 설치한 광부라도 재생 가능 에너지원이 새로운 수요를 충족하기에 불충분한 경우 더 많은 화석 연료 배출로 이어질 수 있습니다.
A Greenidge spokesperson declined to respond to specific questions about the company’s operations or impact on the local grid. In a statement attributed to Greenidge President Dale Irwin, the company said “the campaign run against Greenidge for years has been factually inaccurate and intentionally misleading. Those untruths masked as advocacy have unquestionably impacted policy decisions and it’s unfortunate.”
“It truly didn’t become an issue until they started doing bitcoin mining. That was the trigger for when all of a sudden, all of the alarm came.”
Finger Lakes Economic Development Center CEO Steve Griffin
The debate around bitcoin mining’s role in the U.S. ignores much of the nuance around these companies’ roles and conflates the different types of facilities. This wouldn’t be a problem, except these debates are driving real policies and policy outcomes in the U.S. without always hearing from those most directly affected, particularly in places like Dresden and other immediately adjacent villages like Torrey and Penn Yan.
“We’re direct beneficiaries of that plant,” Hall said. “The town of Torrey is a direct beneficiary. They get payment in lieu of taxes – the town, the county, the school district is a huge beneficiary. If the school district benefits from the tax money, it obviously benefits me and you as the homeowners.”
Griffin, of the development agency, said Greenidge generated $3 million in 2021 in the payments in lieu of taxes.
Though he acknowledged there are some residents who oppose the plant, Griffin said he knew “way more people” who supported Greenidge’s continued operation than who opposed it.
“In my day-to-day, I hear more positives about the plant operating than negatives. Far more,” Griffin said. “It truly didn’t become an issue until they started doing bitcoin mining. That was the trigger for when all of a sudden, all of the alarm came.”
He added: “We did it here, and it’s the end of the world. The opposition to this one, it’s confusing to me. And the only thing I can point to is that people are just not sure what bitcoin does for them.”
Nolen Hayes contributed reporting.
This story originally appeared on Coindesk
카유가 레이크(Cayuga Lake) 남쪽과 동쪽의 여러 마을을 대표하는 민주당 의원 안나 켈스(Anna Kelles) 뉴욕주 하원의원, 지구정의(Earthjustice), 시에라 클럽(Sierra Club)과 같은 국가 환경 단체, 세네카 레이크 가디언(Seneca Lake Guardian)과 같은 초지역 단체를 포함한 이 법안의 지지자들은 이 법안의 통과를 주요 법안으로 예고했습니다. 승리. 이제 그들은 전국적인 싸움을 벌이고 있습니다.
