Following up on national media reports of the noise caused by cryptocurrency mining operations in Cherokee County, Macon County is coming up with ordinances to regulate the noise.
Commissioner Josh Young requested the discussion be put on the agenda just prior to adoption of the agenda at the Feb. 21 Board of Commissioners meeting. Young said he was “bombarded with emails” after a national news story talked about noise that two Bitcoin mines in Murphy create.
Young said that crypto miners are targeting setting up operations in rural areas with low property tax rates and cheap electricity, since the digital mining uses a lot of power.
“I can see our county being a target,” Young said.
The discussion centered around Bitcoin, the original and most common form of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is “mined” from internet data codes by computers that solve ever-more complex math problems, meaning the more it’s mined, the more computer processing power and time it takes to mine even more.
Crypto is decentralized, meaning it doesn’t require banks or other intermediaries for transferring. Bitcoin exploded in trading value at the end of 2020, going from around $10,000 USD per 1.0 Bitcoin to around $64,000 per. The current value has fallen over the last year to around $24,000 currently but is still up from the $4,000 per it was for most of 2019. Besides Bitcoin, there are thousands of other types of cryptocurrencies derived from the Bitcoin source code.
Crypto mining facilities are essentially dwellings with multiple computers that work continuously to mine the digital currency. These computers create a lot of heat from their continual use, necessitating fans or other cooling units to run constantly, which in turn creates a lot of noise.
Macon County Planning Director Joe Allen played an audio recording of what it sounds like to stand “about 300 feet” away from one of the Murphy Bitcoin mining facilities at the Jan. 12 and March 2 planning board meetings, and the Feb. 21 commissioners meeting.
On Feb. 21, the commissioners unanimously passed a motion asking the planning board to bring forward “within a reasonable time frame” any suggestions on how to regulate the noise from cryptocurrency mining.
The planning board took up the task at its March 2 meeting, looking at Jackson County’s cryptocurrency ordinances as an example to implement into their high impact land use code. The planning board liked the idea of barring crypto facilities from cargo containers, railroad cars, semi-truck trailers or similar facilities. However, they disliked the idea of requiring that crypto facilities offset 100% of their electricity consumption. Other ideas, such as requiring property boundaries be fenced in at a minimum of six feet, requiring a sign on the fence and requiring setbacks were agreed to by the planning board.
Allen plans to bring back a draft ordinance for the planning board to review at its April meeting before recommending to the county commissioners.