On December 8, 2022, three Democratic politicians from Massachusetts, Oregon, and California unveiled legislation aimed at combating “energy-intensive” cryptocurrency mining operations. The bill, introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), claims that cryptocurrency mining “strains the network” and that the industry “undermines US climate goals.”
3 US bureaucrats believe cryptocurrency miners need to report carbon emissions and environmental assessments
Senators Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), Jeff Merkley (D-Oklahoma), Jared Hoffman (D-Calif.) I entered A bill requiring an “interagency study on the environmental and energy impacts of mining crypto assets.” Markey’s press release on the “Crypto Assets Environmental Transparency Act” states that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will lead the study.
Furthermore, the EPA will evaluate crypto mining activity in the United States and operations will be required to report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The press release details that crypto miners required to report greenhouse gas emissions will be “operations that consume more than 5 megawatts of energy.”
“Big money [crypto mining] Companies are undermining decades of progress in our fight against climate change by putting profits on the promise of a clean energy future — jeopardizing the reliability and integrity of our grid in the process and making it more likely that utilities will raise energy prices when they work, Senator Markey said Thursday.
Rep. Jared Hoffman said the bill would finally pull back the curtain on the industry. Hoffman added:
It is time for transparency, oversight and accountability.
The Bureaucrats’ bill aims to combat so-called climate change, a narrative that American politicians and leaders have been pushing for years. Markey’s opinions follow a number of studies and research reports that point to processes such as Bitcoin (BTC) Mining is actually beneficial, not only to reduce the burden on networks but also to remove carbon emissions.
For example, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analyst Daniel Patten, A Report which claims that bitcoin mining can remove the world’s carbon emissions by 5.32%. On November 29, 2022, the Electrical Reliability Board of Texas (ERCOT) published a dossier Report It shows that bitcoin mining is beneficial to the Texas network. An ERCOT study indicates that bitcoin mining operations in Texas could shrink 1.7 gigawatts of power during the Texas winter.
Bitcoin mining is also known Flame gas dilution (release of raw gas into the atmosphere) f Landfill gas. In the press release published Thursday, US Senator Merkley argued that “mining crypto assets consumes massive amounts of electricity” and stressed that “most of it is generated by burning fossil fuels.” but, Various studies over the years indicate The majority of bitcoin mining is paid renewable energy Sources.
The Bureaucrats Act has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, the Environmental Working Group, and Seneca Lake Guardian. “Digital assets that rely on proof-of-work are wasteful by design,” Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, said in a statement. “Strong federal regulations must remedy the situation,” added Mandy DeRoche, a clean energy attorney with Earth Justice.
What do you think of US bureaucrats’ bill aimed at regulating crypto mining and forcing operations to report greenhouse gas emissions? Tell us what you think about it in the comments section below.
Jimmy Redman
Jamie Redman is the Chief News Officer at Bitcoin.com News and a financial and technology journalist based in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about disruptive protocols emerging today.
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