Crypto miner, Pennsylvania hit with lawsuit over pollution from bitcoin mine

Stronghold Digital Mining

26/03/2024 22:45

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      Lawsuit claims coal waste, old tires are burned to run
mine
    

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      Community group is seeking damages, and injunctive relief
    

  
    By Clark Mindock
       March 26 (Reuters) - An environmental community group on
Tuesday sued Stronghold Digital Mining Inc  SDIG.O , claiming
the company's bitcoin mine in northeastern Pennsylvania that
burns waste coal and old tires for energy is polluting nearby
communities with dangerous chemicals. 
    The lawsuit by Save Carbon County filed in state court in
Philadelphia, also names Pennsylvania as a defendant. The group,
a nonprofit whose members live near the bitcoin mine, is seeking
compensatory and punitive damages from the company, and an order
directing the state to stop allowing the pollution to continue.
    The group said Stronghold has created a public and private
nuisance by releasing mercury into waterways and spewing harmful
chemicals like sulfur dioxide into the air from an aging power
plant it bought to power its energy-thirsty operations.
    The state has issued permits allowing the pollution and
subsidized the crypto-mine through tax incentives despite having
an affirmative duty in the state constitution to protect the
environment for its citizens, according to the lawsuit.
    A Stronghold spokesperson said in a statement that its
operations actually clean up land and water in the area by using
waste coal left behind by historic coal production in the
region.
    "Stronghold’s facilities have cleaned up millions of tons of
waste coal and reclaimed over 1,050 acres of once-blighted land,
now sports fields, parks, and fishing spots for local
communities," the spokesperson said.
    The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
declined to comment.
    Cryptocurrency mining is a process that often uses large
amounts of electricity for computing and cooling data processing
centers, which perform complex math equations in order to secure
cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
    The University of Cambridge has estimated 38% of bitcoin
produced globally is mined in the U.S., where the number of
mines has exploded since 2021 when China banned cryptocurrency
mining amid concerns the highly volatile digital currencies
could undermine the stability of financial and monetary systems.
    Environmental critics of the mining process note the
facilities often rely on fossil fuel combustion for energy,
which can act as a lifeline for old polluting power plants like
the Panther Creek plant that Stronghold acquired in 2021.
    The lawsuit is the first time Pennsylvania has been sued for
violating the state's constitutional provision guaranteeing
citizens a right to a clean environment by permitting crypto
mines, according to Aaron Freiwald, an attorney for the
community group in Tuesday’s lawsuit. 
    The case is Save Carbon County v. Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, No.
240302915
    For the plaintiff group: Aaron Freiwald and Zachary Feinberg
of Freiwald Law
    For the state and company: Not yet available

 (Reporting by Clark Mindock)