A judge has overturned the denial of a permit for Greenidge Generation Holdings’ Bitcoin mining farm on Seneca Lake, allowing it to continue with regular operations.
The court ruling was issued last week in favor of Greenidge Generation's Bitcoin mining farm, allowing it to continue operating in New York's Seneca Lake, despite the controversy it has caused since it opened its operations in January 2020.
This Bitcoin mining farm uses Seneca Lake for its cooling system More than 8.000 cryptomining unitsThe facility, which was previously a coal-fired power plant, was retrofitted by Atlas Holdings to use natural gas as an energy source to power the Bitcoin miners operating there. However, local residents and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation have raised concerns about the environmental impact of these operations on the lake's ecosystem.
Court ruling allows Bitcoin farm at Seneca Lake to continue
Due to environmental concerns, the state Department of Environmental Conservation had denied the renewal of Greenidge Generation’s permit in order to prevent this crypto mining farm from continuing to operate and mitigate the alleged severe environmental damage it was causing to the lake. The department cited that the operation of this Bitcoin farm was inconsistent with the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals set by the state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
However, the recent Judicial failure of the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Bitcoin mining facility can continue to operate at Seneca Lake, overturning the Department of Environmental Conservation's decision to deny the company's application to renew its permit.
The court upheld the department's power to deny permits and permit renewals for any operation it deems a threat to the state's climate damage reduction goals, reported CNBC reported. However, in this specific case, the judge denied the Department's request to not grant the permit to the Bitcoin mining farm for several reasons. One of them is that the department did not provide sufficient justification for its decision.
Furthermore, according to data collected by the Finger Lakes Institute from Hobart and William Smith Colleges on the operation of the Bitcoin mining farm, in relation to water quality and meteorological data, they indicate that Claims of environmental damage to the lake are exaggerated.
From coal plant to Bitcoin farm
On X, the Leven39 tech community posted a thread providing information and context on the operations of the Seneca Lake facility. First, Greenidge Generation was built in 1937 and operated until 2011 as a coal-fired power plant. In 2017 it was reactivated by Atlas Holdings and in 2020 it went live to power the natural gas-powered Bitcoin mining farm, after several pilot tests were conducted.
Since then, the facilities have been operating within established water use and discharge limits by the department, Indian the community. In addition, the Bitcoin farm has been buying carbon credits to be 100% carbon neutral.
Despite the farm's efforts to be carbon neutral, local climate change activists are concerned about the facility's emissions and environmental impact. In fact, some local residents have claimed that the mining company's operations are “boiling” the lake. However, these claims have been discredited, considering that Historical data shows that the lake temperature has not increased significantly since the Bitcoin farm began operating.
Bitcoin mining is not increasing the temperature of the lake
The data shared by Leven39 also shows that the temperature of Seneca Lake varied significantly in 2016 and 2017, compared to 2018 and 2019, and that this was caused by the heat waves that occurred in those years and not by Bitcoin mining operations, since by then the Greenidge Generation facilities were inoperative and the Bitcoin farm had not yet been installed.
On the other hand, data collected by the technology community indicates that the amount of water that Greenidge Generation facilities can discharge daily represents only 0,003% of all the water in the lake, which is quite insignificant. Also, the company stated in 2021 that such water discharge had a variation of only 6,8 degrees Fahrenheit of average difference between the inlet and outlet.
“For context, this is the equivalent of removing 2,25 drops [of water] from a gallon jug, heating those drops by about 7ºF, and adding them back to the jug each day, and then claiming that [those 2,25 drops] are causing the jug to feel too hot.”, Leven39 noted.
The tech community then stressed that the math shows it is simply not possible for the Greenridge Generation facility and Bitcoin mining operations to have a significant impact on the temperature of Seneca Lake.
“This is another case of carelessness by the media when public data was readily available. It’s pure FUD.”He said.
Greenridge Generation celebrates court victory
On its X account, Greenidge Generation echoed the judge's decision allowing its Bitcoin mining facilities to continue operating at Seneca Lake.
The company Indian that its operations are not only creating new jobs and contributing to the state's economic activity, but are doing so while meeting all of the ambitious climate goals set by New York State.
Thus, although the recent court ruling has sparked an intense debate among climate advocates and supporters of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the company assured that it will continue to operate and address the technical aspects and environmental and social implications of its operations.
