That’s probably something Senator Elizabeth Warren did not have in mind when she sent letters to six crypto mining companies raising concerns over “their extraordinarily high energy usage.”
“The extraordinarily high energy usage and carbon emissions associated with Bitcoin mining could undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis – not to mention the harmful impacts cryptomining has on local environments and electricity prices,” Warren said.
In a reply, Stronghold Digital Mining (NASDAQ: SDIG) says they actually supply the grid, rather than take from it, and they clean-up waste coal in Pennsylvania, returning unusable land to vegetation which can then take carbon out of the atmosphere, reducing emissions.
“We convert highly polluting coal refuse into power and beneficial use ash, which consists of fly ash and bottom ash that can be beneficially reused for mine reclamation efforts and as an additive in concrete production,” Stronghold said, adding:
“Bitcoin mining is a primary consumer of our power but does not preclude us from supplying power to the grid when dispatched or during periods of high power prices.”
They have load balancing which allows them to divert energy to the grid, rather than take away from it, with their mining facilities being energy self sufficient.
Unlike previous off-shore miners therefore, North American facilities are far more environmentally conscious and bring new skills in energy management with Stronghold employing over 110 individuals in land reclamation, power management, data center and related sectors.
The full response is below:
