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Bitcoin Miner Greenidge’s NY Power Plant Permit Delayed: Report

The decision by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will now come by the end of March.

Greenidge mining facility (Caleb Parker)
Greenidge mining facility (Caleb Parker)

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has delayed its decision whether it will allow Greenidge Generation to continue to use its power plant in the town of Dresden for bitcoin mining, Bloomberg reported.

  • The decision is now expected to come by March 31, two months later than originally planned, the report said.
  • The delay will help NYSDEC complete its review with public comments, Bloomberg said, citing a spokesperson.
  • The miner applied last year to renew its permits for the plant, the first time it has come up for renewal since the plant has been powering bitcoin mining operations.
  • On Jan. 16, Greenidge said that due to high electricity demand resulting from recent cold weather, the company temporarily curtailed its cryptocurrency mining operations in Dresden on Jan. 15 to supply all its electrical generation capacity to the New York Independent System Operator.
  • On Dec. 2, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned the environmental footprint of Greenidge Generation’s (GREE) bitcoin mining operation in New York in a detailed letter. The senator later targeted six more crypto miners, questioning their energy usage.

Read more: Warren Targets 6 More Crypto Miners for Their Energy Use

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Aoyon Ashraf

Aoyon Ashraf is CoinDesk's managing editor for Breaking News. He spent almost a decade at Bloomberg covering equities, commodities and tech. Prior to that, he spent several years on the sellside, financing small-cap companies. Aoyon graduated from University of Toronto with a degree in mining engineering. He holds ETH and BTC, as well as ALGO, ADA, SOL, OP and some other altcoins which are below CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.

Aoyon Ashraf