Albany, New York —
Today, the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York and the Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice, filed a complaint in the Albany County Superior Court alleging violations of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) in approving a fossil fuel combustion certificate submitted -of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining operation. The lawsuit challenges the New York Public Service Commission’s (PSC) authorization to transfer ownership of the occasional power plant in western New York to a 24/7 crypto mining operation. The lawsuit is the first to require a state agency to comply with legal obligations established by New York State’s landmark climate change law.
On September 15, 2022, the PSC approved the sale of Fortistar North Tonawanda, a 55-megawatt fracked gas-fired power plant located between the Erie Canal and the Niagara River in the city of North Tonawanda, NY, to Digihost International, a Canadian cryptocurrency miner -Company . For the past five years, Fortistar has only operated between 10 and 74 days per year, emitting relatively low levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other harmful air pollutants. With approval from the PSC, Digihost will be able to operate 24/7 and increase its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 3500% while the rest of New York works to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, as demonstrated by the pioneering New York Climate Act mandates, CLCPA.
“The PSC is failing in its role as a regulator to protect public health and comply with the requirements of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Clean Air will continue to fight against burning fossil fuels to generate electricity for cryptocurrency mining, particularly in residential areas like North Tonawanda,” he said Chris Murawski, executive director of the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York.
Despite being surrounded by water and wildlife, the city of North Tonawanda bears the burden of significant pollution. Communities surrounding the gas facility have been designated as “disadvantaged communities” under state law and include census areas that the state estimates have an environmental burden greater than that borne by 90% of the state. The increase in operations at Fortistar would also result in higher levels of hazardous local air pollutants that cause asthma, cancer and premature death, and harm an already ecologically overburdened community in violation of the CLCPA.
“Everything changed when New York State enacted its landmark climate law, which requires all of its agencies to consider the impact of their decisions on greenhouse gas emissions and the plight of disadvantaged communities,” he said Roger Downs, Conservation Director for the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. “The Public Service Commission can no longer ignore the impact of its decisions, particularly when they run counter to public welfare and threaten air quality for communities already burdened with a disproportionate amount of pollution. Allowing a malfunctioning gas-fired power plant to be acquired and revived by an energy-hungry crypto-mine without considering the environmental impact goes against the intent of the Climate Act and the justice it seeks to advance.”
The PSC’s approval of crypto mining operations at Fortistar follows the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) decision dated June 30, 2022 extending the Title V air permit for Greenidge Generation, a crypto mining facility facility in the Finger Lakes, citing a dramatic increase in greenhouse gas emissions and behind-the-meter operations that do not serve the state’s power grid. Fortistar has applied for an extension of its air permit, but the DEC has not considered its application complete.
Additionally, on November 22, 2022, Governor Hochul signed the nation’s first two-year moratorium on new and renewed permits for fossil-fuel power plants that generate their own energy to mine crypto. The new law requires the DEC to conduct a full environmental impact assessment on the energy and environmental impacts of crypto mining operations. However, the moratorium did not affect air permit applications that had been submitted before it came into effect.
“New York’s landmark climate law means that agencies cannot ignore the climate and environmental justice implications of their decisions. We call on the court to hold agencies accountable and ensure cryptocurrency miners are not given a free pass to heat our planet and harm our communities,” he said Dror Ladin, Senior Attorney at Earthjustice.
As the controversial crypto industry draws national attention, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a report detailing the multiple threats facing the industry, including the environment, and the need for regulation. Similarly, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club released The Energy Bomb: How Proof-of-Work Cryptocurrency Mining Worsens the Climate Crisis and Harms Communities Now, a comprehensive report on the negative environmental impacts of cryptocurrency mining in the United States, including myth-busting the the problem is tackling the industry’s greenwashing talking points to justify its massive use of energy.
background
Proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive process that requires thousands of machines whirring around the clock to solve complex equations. The more machines are running, the faster a coin is mined. Each of these machines requires energy to operate and more energy to cool. Globally, proof-of-work crypto mining, like bitcoin mining, consumes more energy than some countries every year.
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