Simplified Bill to Ban Unsustainable Mining Submitted to New York State Assembly

New York State Senators intend to ban new projects for the extraction of cryptocurrencies powered by the state’s fuel-fired power plants.

The simplified bill, which originally aimed to suspend all mining operations in New York for up to three years, is being sent to the State Assembly with a more specific focus.

According to the new document, the restrictions will only apply to new mining companies that plan to create centers based on fossil fuel power plants. At least one such facility, operated by Greenidge Generation, is located in upstate New York. However, it is already working, and, apparently, will fall under the exception in the bill.

Senators also abandoned the three-year suspension of activities and limited the law to new projects and already operating centers that plan to increase the number of devices for mining at their facilities. In addition, the bill added a requirement to document the statewide environmental impact of mining companies. Any mention of cryptocurrencies is excluded from the final bill.

“The annual global energy use for proof-of-work mining is equivalent to that of Sweden and exceeds that of all major tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook.”

With more miners moving to New York and businesses looking to expand, lawmakers said the increase in carbon dioxide emissions from mining could jeopardize the state’s efforts to cut emissions. In addition, the use of water by miners to cool equipment can cause damage to aquatic organisms due to the increase in water temperature in local lakes.

Recall that the Central Bank of Turkey recently prepared a report on current regulatory initiatives, in which it first expressed concern about the impact of Bitcoin on the environment.