A local environmental group is sharply criticizing the state’s decision to renew Greenidge Generation’s air permit, calling it a setback for New York’s climate goals and the Finger Lakes region.
“We are shocked and sickened by today’s late-breaking news that Governor Hochul has just abandoned the Finger Lakes and gutted the climate law in a political capitulation to the Greenidge Bitcoin Mining facility on Seneca Lake,” wrote Seneca Lake Guardian Principals Yvonne Taylor and Joseph Campbell in a statement. “This is a disgusting betrayal of New Yorkers and a slap in the face to everyone who fought for our climate law, and for the Finger Lakes region.”
Liz Moran, New York Policy Advocate at Earthjustice, also released a statement in response to the DEC’s decision:
“Yet again, Governor Hochul has reversed course on her own climate actions and abandoned communities by settling with the crypto climate-polluter, Greenidge Generation. Just over three years ago, the Governor and her DEC were hailed for their scientifically based decision to deny the air permit renewal for Greenidge on the grounds that it was inconsistent with our climate law. They upheld that decision three times, until the past year, when they began siding with the polluter to drag out litigation. By greenlighting this deal, Governor Hochul is allowing five more years of air pollution, prioritizing the profits of corporate polluters over the best interests of the public. Earthjustice will explore all legal options to ensure that the communities we represent are heard and the Governor stops abandoning the public and our climate law, in favor of corporate polluters.”
“This new permit includes historic emissions reductions that go far beyond anything required by the CLCPA or ever implemented in New York and validates our national model cryptocurrency operation, which does not pull power from the grid, but rather sends power to it daily,” said Greenidge President Dale Irwin.
Greenidge purchased the Dresden facility in 2016, converting a former coal-fired power plant into a natural gas facility, and began operations producing electricity for the local energy grid in 2017. In 2019, the company began a small pilot cryptocurrency program, and in 2020 began operating a cryptocurrency datacenter, using only electricity produced at the facility to operate the datacenter and causing no burden to the local energy grid.
Irwin added, “Before Greenidge’s fully approved crypto mining operation, the facility’s time from start-up to high-power generation for the grid was approximately 14 hours. Now, reaching a high-power supply to the grid takes only minutes. Greenidge can curtail its cryptocurrency mining operations in minutes and direct more of its power generation to the local energy grid.”
Campbell and Taylor reiterated that despite the deal, Seneca Lake Guardian will continue to fight. “We are simply speechless, but we promise you that this will not go unanswered. We will be meeting with our legal team (on Monday) and we will have more information to share once we digest this situation.”
The agreement reached by the DEC and Greendige can be read below:
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