Buncombe County approves a 1-year moratorium on cryptocurrency mining

ASHEVILLE – County Commissioners permitted a one-year moratorium on cryptocurrency mines Might 2, a short lived pause fueled by burgeoning considerations as close by cities battle related operations and potential detrimental impacts, corresponding to “excessive energy use, e-waste, pollution and noise.”

Planning Director Nate Pennington briefed commissioners on the proposed ordinance, and stated the following yr will give the county time to work with residents and Planning Board members to “craft standards for the newly-defined use,” and contemplate mitigation strategies to control it.

Massive cryptocurrency mining operations, that are mainly massive warehouses filled with computer systems, are at present not specified as a land use throughout the county’s zoning ordinances. As of April, the county had no purposes for such initiatives.

“We don’t often bring a moratorium to the table,” Pennington stated. As an “emerging technology,” he stated the mines are being seen nationwide “that other communities are dealing with.”

The six current commissioners voted unanimously to institute the mortarium, which is efficient instantly by Might 1, 2024, however audio system at public remark have been extra divided.

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‘I urge you to maintain an open thoughts’

Seven folks spoke on the Might 2 public listening to, with 4 in opposition to the moratorium. Three others spoke in favor, two of them representatives from space environmental teams.

Chris Joyell, wholesome communities director with MountainTrue, thanked the county for being “proactive” on the difficulty.

“MountainTrue has seen a number of cryptocurrency mines working in WNC, particularly in Cherokee County, the place they’ve confirmed to be a nuisance to neighbors and a menace to our surroundings,” Joyell stated.

In North Carolina, the conversation around crypto mining began broadly in the town of Murphy in Cherokee County, about 90 miles southwest of Asheville, wedged between Tennessee and Georgia in the state’s westernmost corner.

In Murphy, noise created from some of the crypto mines has begun to terrorize community members, described in some reporting as an “otherworldly pitch,” and in an August story from The Washington Post, as “a jet-like roar” that by no means ends.

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Joyell noted electricity use and e-waste, as well as noise pollution. “There is no such thing as a technique to greenwash crypto mining.”

“Let me repeat: As the value of Bitcoin rebounds, the growth of cryptocurrency mining operations put North Carolina in danger of not being able to hit the goals set out by Gov. Cooper and the N.C. General Assembly with House Bill 951,” he said, referencing an energy solutions bill signed in 2021.

But Craig Deutsch, who said he’s lived in Buncombe County for nearly a decade, called instead for commissioners to consider alternative options to the moratorium, and to “method the subject with curiosity.”

“I urge the county commissioners and planners to take the time to visit Bitcoin mines, do research about Bitcoin’s benefits to the environment … and listen to stories about the positive impacts of Bitcoin for underserved and underbanked communities,” Deutsch said.

“At the end of the day, all Bitcoin mining computers do is run code, and code is a form of constitutionally protected speech.”

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Kimberly Stonebraker, who identified herself as a North Carolina resident since 1999, said she believed Bitcoin would help “restore the American Dream,” and mentioned tactics such as noise mitigation and water recycling at facilities.

“I urge you to maintain an open thoughts,” she told commissioners.

Ken Brame, a Leicester resident and representative from the Sierra Club, said he feared any crypto mining coming to county would impact rural residents, like himself, the most.

“We live out there for a reason,” Brame said. He said he’d heard some residents in Cherokee were selling their homes to escape the noise and other impacts. “We need to take the time to figure out what regulations, what management we have in place to prevent that from happening in neighborhoods like mine.”

Sarah Honosky is the town authorities reporter for the Asheville Citizen Instances, a part of the USA TODAY Community. Information Ideas? Electronic mail shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please help native, day by day journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Instances.

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