New York State continues to slow accelerating growth in crypto mining industry Upstate | Goldberg Segalla

Just weeks after both houses of the New York State Legislature finally passed an environmental moratorium on new cryptocurrency mining (as previously reported by ELM here: New York poised to crack down on crypto mining), the Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) announced its long-awaited decision regarding air permit renewal application from a former coal-fired facility near Seneca Lake. The facility, purchased and refurbished by Greenidge Generation to run an extensive crypto mining operation, has relied on approximately 17,000 servers. As previously discussed by ELM here: Crypto: A Virtual Currency with Real-Life Energy Consequences, such extensive mining at the facility consumed an extraordinary amount of energy, typical of the crypto mining operations that have sprung up upstate in the past few years. The resulting dramatically increased demand on the electric grid led to thousands of complaints from local individuals, businesses and environmental groups to NYSDEC, just as Greenidge’s original 2016 permit was set to expire at the end of 2021.

However, NYSDEC refused to renew the permit on the basis that the facility, under the new discharge permit, would significantly increase emissions. While the new permit application did not indicate that Greenidge would not generate any new power, it did indicate that Greenidge intended to run the facility’s turbine at increased levels, but failed to explain why. As a result, NYSDEC concluded, the plant would pose a threat to New York’s ability to comply with New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which requires the state to cut its emissions by 85% by 2050. “We are apply a new law to a new operation that had significant increases in emissions – nearly tripling emissions,” explained a NYSDEC spokesperson. “The company itself was unable to demonstrate that it could comply with the law.” (

Greenidge, for its part, denies the accuracy of the state’s conclusion and is appealing the decision — which it has until the end of July — by requesting an administrative adjudication hearing. In the meantime, it will operate as it has been operating under its original Title V air permit.

With gas prices at record highs, a ferocious heat wave currently blanketing the globe, and an apparent lack of will across the planet to curb fossil fuel use, some see New York’s hesitance to expand the crypto mining industry as too little, too late. Environmentalists and state residents, however, see NYSDEC’s decision as a victory. Either way, only time will tell if crypto mining companies like Greenidge will adapt their operations to New York’s more local climate goals or if the industry will settle in a friendlier state.