Counties across hydroelectric rich America have been fighting back against the crypto mining community for a number of months now. Earlier this year, Chelan became one of the first counties in Washington state to pause the application process for new power requests from crypto miners. Now, it’s things taking a step further to run the miners out of town, by hiking up their power costs. Citizens of Chelan county are fed up with crypto miners and are starting to create a hostile environment with the hope of banishing them from the region.
Counties Fighting Miners
Crypto mining hate isn’t unique to Chelan county. Across Washington state, there are a number of counties, townships, and cities taking up arms against the mining community. A number of crypto mining farms have been brought up on charges for not using adequate cooling apparatus, not meeting the necessary safety requirements, and for making too much noise. In fact, Plattsburgh has introduced a new set of regulations for crypto miners, which state the noise of the farms can be no louder than 90 decibels at a distance of 25 meters.
Miners Already Facing Significant Price Hikes
Earlier this year, counties in Washington state all voted to raise the price of power for crypto miners, as the increased demand is putting strain on the local infrastructure. Due to a lack of investment, local grids are being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of power being directed to these mining farms, and it’s beginning to put such grids at the risk of failure. These price hikes are designed to force miners to move elsewhere, thus alleviating the strain on the local grid, but mining is still very lucrative in these areas in spite of the permanent grid damage it could potentially cause.
Texas Makes it a Legal Issue
Texas has taken a slightly different approach to the crypto mining issue. Rather than supplying the miners with an abundance of ultra-low-cost power, Texas has instead been issuing cease and desist orders to cloud mining firms. While the mining operations weren’t actually in Texas, the cloud mining firm broke security sale regulations and is now banned from the state. If Chelan wants to get rid of the miners, it’s time for them to look into pressing charges.
The increase in prices is fairly negligible in Chelan county, but it’s still enough to make miners think twice about increasing capacity. With the falling prices of Bitcoin, profitability is quickly being drawn into question. If the power prices start edging too high, then miners will have to relocate their operations in order to keep making profits year round.
