Senators continue to demand that the EPA investigate the emissions data from crypto mining
Lawmakers Edward Markey and a representative, Jared Huffman demand that EPA investigates and releases the emissions data.
On March 3, they said that they are going to reinstitute the Crypto Asset Environmental Transparency Act in Congress. The lawmakers have made this clear before the senate hearing. It is hearing about the effects of crypto mining that is going to chair on March 7.
They brought up the bill in the previous congress in December for the first time. Markey and Huffman introduced it. Senator Jeff was also the co-sponsor in the senate.
In this bill, they are demanding that crypto mining companies divulge the details of the emissions for operations using more than 5 megawatts of power. It also demands the administration of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) undergo an investigation of the influence of crypto mining in the US. This investigation by EPA is going to have a $5 million budget and after passing the bill, it should disclose its discovery within 18 months.
16 public companies are in the favor of this bill. According to Markey, it includes groups such as the Sierra Club, Green peace USA, and the National Stop Crypto Coalition. He stated that,
” Crypto miners are sucking megawatt after megawatt from our public grids and emitting skyrocketing greenhouse gasses, just so they can make a buck for themselves. We can’t support letting this industry run roughshod over our communities any longer.”
Markey further stated that soon he is going to hold a meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Work Committee’s sub Committee on clean air and nuclear safety. He said they will discuss in the meeting that ” focused on the urgent need to crack down on the growing environmental impacts of crypto mining.”
Markey and Huffman are also among those lawmakers who wrote to the administrator Michael Regan of EPA and Jennifer Granholm, energy secretary in February. They proposed in that writing that their organizations can ” work together to address the lack of information about crypto mining’s energy use and environmental impacts.”
In addition to this, they also wrote the CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to inquire about the energy usage and environmental impact in Texas due to crypto mining. Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote both of these letters.