Residents of a Tennessee town are not too happy with the addition of a bitcoin mining facility that’s allegedly causing heavy noise in the area. The facility was built by Red Dog Technologies, and it’s been stationed in a small area where everyone seems to know one another, and problems are few.
Bitcoin Mining Is Creating Too Much Noise for These Residents
The noise of the bitcoin mining business allegedly started out as a small hum last spring. From there, it got louder and louder to the point that residents are beginning to complain. Several citizens voted to bring the bitcoin mining rig to their town, thinking it would establish a stronger economy and even create jobs, but they say the noise is causing them to regret their decisions.
Preston Holley lives directly across the street from the mine. He commented in an interview:
We couldn’t have people over to gather in our front yard because we could hardly hear one another talking.
Over the past year or so, the United States has seen a surge in new miners entering the country given that many other regions in Asia and Europe – such as China and Kosovo – have made the process of bitcoin mining illegal given it allegedly leads to heavy atmospheric pollution. Both nations have stated they are looking to become more carbon neutral out of concern for the planet.
As a result, several miners have been forced to close their businesses. With nowhere to go, they have turned to regions in the U.S. like Texas and Florida to exploit cheap electricity costs. Appalachia – a region of the country that contains Tennessee, where these residents live – gets cheap electricity through coal use, natural gas, and hydro, and many companies are beginning to flock there.
Sadly, this has led to several problems for homeowners. Kent Harris – a Washington County commissioner – says he was one of the people that voted to bring the crypto mining facility to the region. He wishes very badly he could take his vote back. He commented:
It looks like a German POW camp. I have never regretted a vote like this one. I sure wish I could take it back… We thought it was a data center going in there.
What’s Being Done?
Todd Napier – director of site acquisition for Red Dog – mentioned that he and his constituents are taking the noise complaints very seriously, and that they don’t want the noise causing problems or irreparable damage to the people in the area. However, several claim that neither Napier nor anyone else at Red Dog has done anything to alleviate the noise.
In a separate court document, Red Dog alleges it has so far spent more than $600K on noise mitigation, and that it would face a loss of more than $35 million if forced to close.