The New York State Senate passed a new bill that may temporarily halt the approval of all new mining facility applications involved in PoW mining activities.

The New York Senate yesterday passed a new bill proposed by Democratic Senator Kevin Parker on May 3 with a vote of 36 to 27. Once implemented, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation will be required to pause the approval of new mining facility applications for PoW mining and to produce a related environmental impact study.

Prohibition of PoW Mining Facilities

The bill, as outlined in the document, states that the global annual energy consumption for Proof of Work (PoW) mining is equivalent to the energy consumption of the nation of Sweden, surpassing the combined energy consumption of major tech companies worldwide such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook. The increase in carbon emissions caused by PoW mining could jeopardize efforts to reduce carbon emissions across the state. Furthermore, mining facilities using water to cool equipment may damage nearby aquatic life by raising the temperature of lakes.

Senator Kevin Parker mentioned in an interview with Yahoo Finance that the bill is not intended to curb cryptocurrency mining activities, and New York State is still willing to cooperate with new mining facilities that utilize clean energy sources such as hydro, natural gas, and solar:

“We certainly welcome mining operations that use renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and water. We hope to work with these cryptocurrency miners to make the right decisions for their businesses and the people of New York State.”

However, the proposed bill aims for a blanket ban and does not exclude applications from mining facilities that use renewable energy. The bill has not yet passed through the scrutiny of the Assembly and the signing of the Governor of New York State. Organizations or unions such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council have released public letters requesting the legislative body to delay the progress of this bill. In a public letter, IBEW stated:

“While we strongly support the ‘Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act,’ this legislative proposal would restrict privately generated power not from the grid, limiting its use in certain technologies.”

When asked about his views on the bill, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo stated he had not delved deeply into the specifics of the bill, but acknowledged there are indeed concerning issues regarding the global environment.