Democrats recently asked for information from Texas grid operator about the impact of the crypto mining operations on the state's vulnerable energy grid, climate change, and the subsidies paid for by the retail consumers.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and six other Democrats, in a letter on Oct. 12, told the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to give details on how much electricity the crypto mining companies have consumed.
The lawmakers have also expressed concern about the contribution of this undisclosed energy consumption to the carbon dioxide emissions for the last six years these companies operated.
Crypto Mining Energy Consumption
Warren, in a statement to The Verge, said she has been working so "the public understands the economic and climate risks from crypto."
The energy consumption of these crypto-mining companies has equaled the need of the entire country, she claimed.
The lawmakers cited the data from the seven large crypto miners showed they are operating with at least 1,045 megawatts (MW), enough power to provide power to over 800,000 homes.
They expressed worry about the reported plan of these companies to increase their total capacity to 2,399 MW a few years from now.
This projected increase, the lawmakers said, is a whopping 230x bump, enough to power a city of 1.9 million homes.
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Carbon Emissions
Warren and fellow lawmakers said this large amount of energy use would adversely impact the air quality and the amount of greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere.
The taxpayers, they said, should stop paying subsidies, especially when their power grid is on the verge of collapse.
Soaring Demand For Energy
The state's power grid company asked Texans to cut energy consumption in July to avoid continuous blackouts.
ERCOT resorted to consumption cuts amid soaring demand that threatened to outpace the supply, Reuters reported.
The lawmakers wondered how much ERCOT paid to the crypto mining companies to trim down their energy consumption.
A Bloomberg report said Riot Blockchain, Inc. has raked in at least $9.5 million from credits it has earned for shutting down its Bitcoin mining rigs during an extreme heat wave in July.
Home of Crypto Mining Companies
Over the years, Texas has attracted some 30 crypto mining companies because of thousands of acres of land available, cheap electricity, and lower state taxes.
This interest to set up shop in Texas was fueled further by the state governor's favorable endorsement.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, in his tweet last year, said: "Count me in as a crypto law proposal supporter."
Tweet
The lawmakers feared the soaring energy demand might cripple the state's vulnerable power grid.
Crypto Mining Dirty Secret
Skeptics of cryptocurrency call it "fake money." Despite of bad reviews it gets, the crypto market has grown to unprecedented heights.
The market capitalization of some 19,000 cryptocurrencies has reached $1.75 trillion, almost the same size as that of Italy's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Aside from being called "fake money," crypto has a dirty secret most people do not know.
In an article published State of the Planet, crypto mining companies consume a lot of energy.
Bitcoin, for example, has an annual power consumption of 150 terawatt hours. This staggering energy requirement is enough to power Argentina's 45 million population.
To produce that amount of energy would also emit some 65 megatons of carbon dioxide, the article said.
Crypto is obviously a major contributor to global warming, it said.
