In Kentucky, cryptocurrency miners would benefit from reduced electricity rates and tax credits. What significant advantages for large facilities like Elbon Facility and Bitiki-KY! However, maintaining this kind of contract may affect the situation of Kentuckians in the future. Sensing a less bright future for the inhabitants, Earthjustice calls for the opening of an investigation.
Investigating Crypto Mining Contracts in Kentucky
In his statement As of Dec. 5, environmental law group Earthjustice reportedly opened an official investigation into tax benefits given to two crypto mining giants in Kentucky. In particular, it mentions two mining contracts granting lower electricity tariffs to Elbon Facility and Bitki-KY as part of a tax relief bill for players in the sector.
As a reminder, Elbon Facility reportedly has a 250 MW crypto mining facility in Louisa and Bitiki-Ky reportedly received a $250,000 tax credit from the State of Kentucky.
But a question arises: wouldn’t this largesse towards energy-intensive crypto companies lead to higher electricity bills for the people of Kentucky?
To better elucidate the situation, Earthjustice found it just to:
- appeal to the state Public Utilities Commission (PCS) to initiate a formal investigation;
- set up a coalition of groups including the Kentucky Conservation Committee, Mountain Association, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, Kentucky Solar Energy Society and Sierra Club to put pressure on the said Commission.
A connection with the FTX scandal?
Several reasons would have prompted Earthjustice to challenge the PCS. Among them are:
- the bankruptcy of a cryptocurrency mining facility in Washington State in 2018, which generated $700,000 in unpaid electricity bills;
- the payment issues of a crypto mining company in Arkansas in 2019, due to large upgrades;
- the debacles of crypto companies like FTX;
- the negative impacts of mining on the environment and public health;
- etc
” Our economic development funds should be used for projects that truly benefit local communities – not for risky out-of-state businesses that choose to leverage our resources but risk driving up utility bills. public services in communities that are already struggling “, they specify in this statement.
Earthjustice and Sierra Club have already released a new guide in which they clarified that bitcoin mining would have emitted approximately 27.4 million tons of CO2 between July 2021 and December 2022. New York State is already in a state of alert, the White House also does not think to remain unmoved in the face of this kind of call. We will patiently await the outcome of this investigation.
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