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Yvonne Taylor along with other business owners in Seneca Lake are awaiting the decision of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), on an on-air permit for Greenidge Generation, do they approve of it or not, a natural gas-fired power plant that through Bitcoin mining generates over $100 million a year.
The original permits expired almost seven months ago and the decision is pending for over three months now. The DEC says almost 4,000 public comments that were submitted on November 19th, 2021, are the main reason behind the delay.
While two researchers at Cornell University disclosed that they reviewed all the comments in less than a week, at a Monday morning press conference. They found out that around 98.8% are against the renewal of a for-profit power plant running 24/7 with almost no public use.
As opposed to Greenidge’s claims made to Gothamist in February that the whole community supports them and only a minority stands in opposition, less than 1% of commenters supported the project.
One of the Cornell data researchers, Dr. Owen Marshall, said he submitted a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the DEC for the public comments on March 15th, and less than a week later, he received a thumb drive containing a mix of 3,919 PDF files and Microsoft Word files.
Dr. Owen Marshall, one of the data researchers at Cornell, revealed that on March 15th, to receive public comment, he submitted a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the DEC. Within a week, he received a thumb drive that contained a mix of 3,919 Microsoft Word and PDF files.
Residents and environmental groups in Seneca Lake pointed out the concern that Greenidge can act as an example for cryptocurrency mining in New York State, where just a scattering number of defunct fossil fuel plants are offline and can be used for lucrative operations.
In addition to concerns related to the environment, residents also explained that there is no benefit of the plant whatsoever to the electric grid since it functions completely to carry out the crypto mining operation.
Besides, the locals also look at the decision as a test of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, (CLCPA), according to which every sector should eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. 13 members of Congress sent out a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency in order to investigate the crypto mining industry breaching the environmental laws, last week.
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Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
