US authorities urged miners to disclose environmental impact data

Companies should also indicate the steps they are taking to reduce the impact on the energy system

20.08.2022 - 09:45

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What’s new? Four mining companies must provide data on the environmental impact of their operations at the request of members of the US House of Representatives from the Energy and Commerce Committee. The companies included Core Scientific, Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital, and Stronghold Digital. All of the firms listed have public status.

Information on the agency’s website

What do congressmen say? Officials want answers to questions about how each of the companies mitigates negative environmental impacts and what steps they take to ensure that cryptocurrency mining does not further load the energy system or change the climatic conditions in the country. The letter’s authors noted:

“Blockchain technology holds immense promise that may make our personal information more secure and economy more efficient. However, the energy consumption and hardware required to support PoW-based [Proof-of-work consensus algorithm]cryptocurrencies may, in some instances, produce severe externalities in the form of harmful emissions and excess electronic waste.”

In December 2021, Senator Elizabeth Warren, in a letter to Greenidge Generation, a mining company, expressed concern about excess energy consumption and the negative impact of mining on New York State’s environment. In June, the New York Senate approved a two-year moratorium on fossil fuel mining. The law must be signed into law by State Governor Kathy Hochul before it can go into effect.

In July, congressmen sent a letter to the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency asking them to require miners to report information on emissions and electricity consumption, adding that they had little data on the scale of this type of activity.

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