Today a coalition of environmental, consumer and public interest groups delivered a letter to Senate Majority Leader Schumer urging him to prevent pro-cryptocurrency legislation that would worsen climate change from coming up for a vote this session. The proposed legislation being developed in the Senate Agriculture Committee would further legitimize and support the industry which is already having a grave environmental impact due to its massive fossil fuel energy consumption. 

The letter states, in part: Cryptocurrency mining, computer processing and cloud operations are highly energy-intensive activities that have already buoyed fossil fuel electricity generation, extraction, and climate-warming carbon emissions… Despite the known and significant impacts that crypto-mining may have on energy use and climate change, the bill being considered by the Senate Agriculture contains no provisions to address such usage – not even provisions that would require crypto industry actors to report their energy usage and energy sources.

The letter was signed by 80 organizations including national environmental groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Energy Action, Food & Water Watch, Greenpeace USA, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and the Sierra Club, as well as frontline groups facing the threats from crypto-driven climate destruction such as Embattled Glencoe Citizens Against Crypto-mining and Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining.

“The crypto industry spent more than $100 million to secure a hands-off regulatory approach that emboldens corporate tycoons to get rich by destroying the climate,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “Senator Schumer should not coddle an industry bent solely on profits that is trying to buy a lax regulatory regime in order to burn through fossil fuels that poison our planet.”

The letter highlights the energy intensity of cryptocurrency mining, computer processing and cloud computing, and that the majority of these activities are powered by fossil fuel-fired power plants. Global Bitcoin production is already using over 140-billion kilowatt hours of electricity alone and as much of 2 percent of U.S. electricity consumption. This demand has restarted decommissioned coal-fired plants, justified the construction of new gas-fired plants, and created surging demand for more oil and natural gas extraction. 

The letter continued: Despite the known and significant impacts that crypto-mining may have on energy use and climate change, the bill being considered by the Senate Agriculture contains no provisions to address such usage – not even provisions that would require crypto industry actors to report their energy usage and energy sources… The Senate should not take up modest and ineffective crypto regulations that fail to protect consumers from known economic risks of fraud, abuse, and crypto meltdowns and also accelerates climate change and props up the fossil fuel industry.