A Pennsylvania-based holding company named Stronghold Digital Mining has acquired a whole coal power plant in Venango County, Pennsylvania over the summer to run 1,800 mining computers, reports NBC News.
The plant is now burning around 600,000 tons of coal every year, a troubling return to a polluting form of energy and raising concerns among environmentalists.
“These miners don’t just need cheap energy, but a stable source of power because their machines need to run 24/7, and fossil fuel sources are best suited for it,” Alex de Vries, researcher and founder of Digiconomist, told NBC.
Curbing crypto mining is important
The company is now aiming to expand its operations by acquiring two more coal waste plants in the same area, as per the report. Coal waste uses hazardous piles of coal waste, byproducts of mining operations that can contaminate waterways.
While there is an uptick in mining operations stateside, other parts of the globe are actively trying to curb it. For instance, China has cracked down hard on all mining operations in the country. A major reason behind the ban is the massive amount of energy used to mine crypto. China aims to become carbon neutral by 2060.
“Miners are reviving gas plants and idle coal mines in places like New York and Montana,” de Vries told NBC.
Several ways of dealing with waste coal
Stronghold is prepping up for its first public offering. The firm maintains it is “environmentally beneficial” in Securities and Exchange Commission filings, noting that it uses coal waste.
“Simply put, we employ 21st century crypto mining techniques to remediate the impacts of 19th and 20th century coal mining in some of the most environmentally neglected regions of the United States,” Stronghold wrote in its SEC filing.
But environment activists still argue there are better ways of dealing with waste coal, such as planting seagrass atop the piles or diverting it into lined landfills. Local legislatures, however, are more in favor of cutting taxes for crypto mining operations rather than putting their money into cleaning the environment.
