By: Hannah Gebhardt
In Hood County of rural Texas, Bitcoin mining technology has moved in and residents are not happy about it. Recently, Marathon Digital Holdings moved a bitcoin mining facility to Granbury, Texas, bringing noise pollution in the range of 85 decibels along with it. As a result of the move, numerous legal, health, and political issues have been implicated, as the local community pushes back against the industrial noise pollution.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, or digital currency, used as an alternative form of payment using encryption algorithms. The benefit of such a medium of exchange is that it executes transactions without the intervention of a third party, while also conducting its own virtual accounting. However, these benefits don’t come without their setbacks – extensive barriers of entry for investing, slow transaction times, and steep fees, to name a few. There are not only setbacks in the technology itself, but mining Bitcoin requires massive amounts of electricity, produces excessive waste and noise pollution.
Marathon Holdings moved to Granbury, Texas in hopes of establishing a large Bitcoin mining facility. Texas is the perfect place for such an endeavor, due to pre-existing large facilities, lax regulation, and crypto-friendly politicians. Filling these large facilities are high-tech computers to conduct the ‘mining’ of Bitcoin, which require fans to keep them cool. The thousands of fans that cool the computers emit noises that, from inside the facility, resemble the noise of a jet engine. A local officer measured the noise emitted from the facility beyond an exterior fence. The readings were consistently above 85 decibels, roughly between the output of a lawnmower and a chainsaw. With such high levels of technology and machinery, the energy used has become a major topic of discussion and opposition by climate activists. On a national scale, the data centers used for Bitcoin mining are predicted to use eight percent of total U.S. power by 2030, up from three percent in 2022. Not only are these facilities a nuisance to rural towns housing them, but they could be a detriment to our global environment.
Marathon’s choise of Hood County for their facilities was heavily influenced by Texas’ politically conservative climate. Although regulations exist to protect Granbury residents from such noise pollution related disruptions, these laws contain loopholes that primarily serve to benefit industrial interests. The Texas Penal Code (“TPC”) Section 42.01(c)(2) finds “a noise is presumed to be unreasonable if the decibel level exceeds 85 after the person making the noise received notice from a magistrate or peace officer that the noise is a ‘public nuisance.’” There is also a federal mandate to regulate noise, known as the 1972 Noise Act. While this Act sounds like a productive piece of legislation for Hood County residents, it was essentially de-funded by the Reagan administration, leaving primary responsibility for control of noise with the state and local governments, which is ultimately unproductive in a state like Texas, which tends to favor industrial interests. The Nonprofit Noise Pollution Clearinghouse spoke on Granbury’s predicament, claiming the laws operate at “a level that protects noise polluters, not the noise polluted.”
After suffering from health implications from the noise, such as cortisol induced panic attacks, hearing loss, and migraines, residents have pursued multiple avenues to combat their concerns. Local politicians looked to pass resolutions in Hood County Commissioners Court, prompting state senators to draft legislation. However, this is a weak strategy in a state that favors laxed regulation. Another roadblock for politicians is their inability to combat the issue on a local level, for only cities have the ability to pass noise ordinance laws.
When Hood County resident John Shirley heard of the turmoil his fellow residents were experiencing, he took matters into his own hands. Shirley has been using a recorder to measure the decibels the mine is operating at, ticketing them for disorderly conduct and violation of TPC Section 42.01(c)(2), a fine of $500. Shirley has ticketed the mine operators over $17,500 in fines, mere “chump change” for a corporation that “earned $165 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2024.” In July, there was a trial for tickets written for Marathon Bitcoin Miner, David Fischer. Fischer’s defense attorneys provided strong evidence of; weak readings by Shirley, inconsistency on the type of decibel measured for the statute, and an inability to find personal responsibility for the noise on Fischer. While the tickets were a soulful effort in combating this issue, they had no chance against the defense attorneys and resources of Marathon’s David Fischer – quite the foreshadowing of the battle the residents of Granbury have on the horizon.
The implications of Bitcoin mining seem like enough reason to revert to our original currency system, however, the Bitcoin mining industry generated a record two billion dollars in revenue in March 2024 alone. Most Bitcoin companies are publicly traded so these corporations will continue to operate with shareholders as their priority. Additionally, the Bitcoin mining industry is working to push bills through state legislatures to protect the industry and their employees, exempting them from local nuisance ordinances. As these issues surface, the courts will have to find the balance between commerce powers and protecting citizens from big business.
Student Bio: Hannah Gebhardt is a second-year law student at Suffolk University Law School. She is a staff member for the Journal of High Technology Law. Hannah received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2023.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog are the views of the author alone and do not represent the views of JHTL or Suffolk University Law School.
