Residents of Hood County, Texas, are being kept awake by a relentless hum from a nearby Bitcoin mining operation, which has also been blamed for a host of health issues. Neighbors of the plant, managed by Marathon Digital Holdings, have reported problems such as headaches, hearing loss, and sleep disturbances due to the constant noise likened to "jets taking off 24/7, non-stop," as local Cheryl Shadden told KENS 5.
Despite attempts to alleviate the din by erecting a 24-foot sound barrier, neighbors claim, there's been no relief. The noise, which some say is "even louder at night," is caused by the facility's cooling fans working around the clock to mine cryptocurrency, according to residents. In a statement obtained by MSN, one of these residents, Erendira Ruiz, explained in Spanish how the noise shakes her mobile home's ground and windows, and causes her to suffer from headaches, a condition she never faced before.
The local community's efforts to bring the matter to the attention of Hood County officials have met with empathy, but little action. "It was quite overwhelming, the stories that I heard," admitted Nanette Samuelson, Hood County Commissioner for Precinct 2, during a town hall meeting as cited in an interview with KENS 5. According to Samuelson, the county's hands are tied due to limited regulatory power over the unincorporated Bitcoin mining industry.
Jackie Sawicky, founder of the Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining, pulled no punches in describing the industry's impact. "They’re putting it in poor, rural, often, communities of people of color. Noise pollution is a health crisis that most Texans don’t even know is happening," Sawicky said in a report by KENS 5. Her advocacy for regulation stalled, with Senate Bill 1751 passing in the Senate but failing in the House.
Shadden has made it her mission to see the Bitcoin plant's noise issue resolved, speaking out to local and state leaders and vowing to continue confronting them until the problem is solved. "All it takes is one person to stand up and start gaining some steam, that’s what I’m doing," Shadden asserted in reports by both KENS 5 and MSN. In response to the growing disquiet among residents, Samuelson has penned a public hearing into the agenda for the Hood County Commissioner's Court, slated for February 13.
Marathon Digital Holdings, the firm behind the mining operation, claims to have been kept in the dark about prior noise complaints before taking ownership and operational control of the site. "We have also commissioned a third party to conduct a sound study, which we hope will give us more information to remediate any impacts experienced by nearby residents," Marathon Digital stated, emphasizing their intention to solve any issues they can influence. Moreover, they've promised a $650 million investment in Hood County over the next five years, aiming to create jobs and contribute $2 million annually in taxes, as they indicated in their statement to MSN.
