RUNNING BITCOIN MINERS OUT OF TOWN.

• Author: Britschgi, Christian
• Position: TECHNOLOGY

SINCE LATE 2020, a steady hum has emanated from the 15 large metal containers installed next to an electricity substation in the unincorporated rural community of Limestone in Washington County, Tennessee. The boxes make up a bitcoin "mine." Inside each one, computers work to solve equations that keep bitcoin's decentralized network up and running. In exchange for solving these equations, the computers are rewarded with bitcoin.

That operation is now engaged in a life-or-death struggle with local officials, ostensibly because of noise complaints. The dispute illustrates a nationwide trend that pits bitcoin miners--many of whom are looking for new homes in the U.S. as foreign governments ban their business outright--against regulators who likewise find them intolerable.

Bitcoin-mining computers consume a lot of energy and thus give off a lot of heat, which is blown away by rows and rows of noisy fans. Utility companies with spare power to sell love the high energy consumption. That's why BrightRidge, the company that provides power to Limestone, used cash incentives and cheap rates to induce the bitcoin company Red Dog Technologies to set up its computers next to the utility's substation.

But noise generated by the operation was a problem for neighboring residents. They took their complaints to Washington County officials, who sued BrightRidge in November 2021. While the county commission had approved construction of a "blockchain data center" the year before, the lawsuit said, it had not approved a "Bitcoin blockchain verification facility."

One of the noise complaints about the Limestone bitcoin mine was not actually a noise complaint. Rather, the county objected to Red Dog not getting permits for sound barriers it was also urging the company to put up. Washington County is seeking to close down the mine.

Across the country, other local governments are using zoning laws to restrict bitcoin mining. As in Limestone, these conflicts often stem from noise complaints. But the ensuing regulatory interventions frequently attempt to do much more than mitigate noise.

Complaints about noise brought Project Spokane's bitcoin mine to the attention of policy makers in Missoula...