Elizabeth Warren and other democratic members of Congress urged two federal regulators in a letter to take action on the explosion of Bitcoin mining in the US on 15 July 2022.
The letter was sent to the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy. Preliminary investigation from lawmakers found that a handful of crypto-miners use an enormous amount of energy. The lawmakers in return has asked the agencies to require that crypto-mining companies share data on their energy use and emissions.
The letter stated that seven of the biggest crypto mining companies in the US uses over 1 gigawatt of electricity. US is the biggest global hub to mine Bitcoin. It typically runs data centers around-the-clock to mine the currency. In the past year Crypto mining has increased greatly in the US.
The movement of the Bitcoin network from China to the US jaa made it more dirtier.
Policymakers worry about the impact crypto mining will have on the country’s climate change goals and on electricity bills. Inflation of electricity prices in New York is also a result of the practice.
New York State passed a bill in June that imposed a two-year moratorium on new permits for fossil fuel power plants used to kine energy-intensive currencies. Although the bull hasn’t been signed yet. New York also denied a renewed air permit to Greenidge Generating Station, an embattled power plant.
The impact of crypto-mining in the US is much severe than what the letter details. Lawmakers stated that they didn’t receive any convenient information from the companies in response to their questions.
