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North Texas community says crypto-mining facility brings endless noise, declining health problems
GRANBURIA — A rural community in Hood County says a crypto-mining facility has replaced the area’s tranquility with constant noise, and it’s affecting their health.
Crypto-mining uses computers and electricity to complete transactions and release new cryptocurrencies.
Tom Weeks, who lives near the facility, says he moved to rural Hood County for the wonderful people and the peace and quiet. But that all changed when a cryptocurrency mining facility began operating nearby.
“You know, you can’t sit outside in the evening and just chat, have a glass of wine or whatever because you get that [noise],” Weeks said. “And yeah, and the funny thing is, it’s like any other noise in your life. You fixate on it, you fixate on everything. You can’t control it. And that’s what’s happening here.”
He says the noise is constant, even when he is inside the house.
“It doesn’t stop,” Weeks said. “This thing was built to handle a tornado, and I never imagined anything like this.”
Now he claims that it’s not just the annoyance of the constant noise that’s causing it, but that he’s also seeing his health deteriorate.
“Being frustrated 24/7, being angry about something you can’t control, is detrimental to your health,” Weeks said. “I mean, it’s going to destroy your health, and you’re not going to be able to sleep well at night.”
Weeks said a chronic blood pressure problem he’s managed his entire life with a pill has now become a handful of daily medications. And he’s not alone.
“They tell me they can’t sleep,” said Nannette Samuelson, a commissioner for Hood County Pct. 2. “The noise is constant, 24/7. They’re having vertigo. Their kids are getting cochlear implants because they have hearing problems now; all kinds of medical problems.”
Samuelson said his phone started ringing off the hook with complaints about the facility, owned and operated by Marathon Digital Holdings, the moment he took over.
“They can’t sell their homes because the values have gone down and nobody wants to live near that,” he said. “So they’re stuck with this constant noise that can’t be turned off, 24/7, through their house and nobody wants to live like that.”
Samuelson plans to appeal to the legislature for help. Other groups are also working to raise awareness of the consequences of mining.
“Ordinary Texans aren’t gambling and benefiting from bitcoin cryptocurrency,” said Jackie Sawicky of the Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining. “Yet every energy consumer in Texas is footing the bill.”
Sawicky said bitcoin mining is a huge consumer of electricity and that demand is driving up energy costs for everyone. The Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining is nonpartisan, but it will “name names and name calling” politicians who prioritize corporate profits over the communities that are fighting back against these facilities, he said.
“It’s incredibly important for someone to say, ‘I understand’ or ‘I care,’” Weeks said.
Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) said in a statement to CBS News Texas that it cares about the communities it serves and is actively taking steps beyond compliance to ensure that noise is further reduced from operations at the center by voluntarily enhancing and expanding the acoustic wall that surrounds part of the site. The company’s statement continued:
“When considering the impact on the local community, it is important to keep in mind that this is an industrial area and has been for years before the Digital Asset Data Center existed.
MARA did not build the digital asset data center. The data center was originally built by Compute North and, until recently, was operated by US Bitcoin Corp/Hut8. MARA only took over the site and its operations earlier this year, well after it was built and operating.”
The company said that soon after taking over the site it commissioned several acoustic studies from third-party acoustic experts, who determined that the site operated within the legal limits; however, MARA said: “We hold ourselves to higher standards.”
MARA said it is also converting the plant from air cooling to liquid immersion cooling, which is more expensive but quieter, referring to another of its plants in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, which “is completely immersion cooled… and we have never had any questions about its noise levels.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story stated that Tom Weeks had spoken to neighbors and Hood County officials. In reality, it was reporter Robbie Owens who did so.