The constant noise from a Bitcoin mining operation in Hood County is causing headaches for neighbors.
People living in the area around the plant outside of Granbury said action needs to be taken to cut down the noise pollution, which has hurt their community’s quality of life.
Cheryl Shadden told NBC 5 that for the past two years, she’s heard the sound from the plant day and night from her home across the street.
“It sounds like you’re being on a runway with jets taking off 24/7, nonstop,” Shadden said. “You hear it in your home, it penetrates the walls, it shakes your windows.”
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The sound is coming from a Bitcoin mining plant run by Las Vegas-based Marathon Digital Holdings. This data center is a network of computers that run strings of numbers 24/7 to uncover cryptocurrency.
Neighbors said the exhaust fans used to cool off these computers sound almost like jet engines.
“Almost all of us here have headaches, hearing loss, vertigo, nausea, sleep disturbances,” Shadden said. “It’s like being a prisoner and having interrogation tactics plied upon you.”
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On Wednesday dozens of people living in the area came out to share their concerns with NBC 5, saying they’ve been reporting the noise to the county but no action has been taken.
Nanette Samuelson, Hood County Commissioner for Precinct 2, shared dozens of noise reports that her office has received since at least last March. She said the only action the county could take is to write noise complaint tickets when the sound produced by the plant is louder than 85 decibels.
Some activists said the situation showed a need to change state law specifically to target noise pollution from crypto farms.
“They’re extraordinarily exploitative. They come to places like rural Texas where it’s almost no holds barred,” said Jackie Sawicky, founder of the Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining.
NBC 5 took those concerns to Marathon Digital Holdings, the company that owns the plant. The company sent the following statement in response:
Marathon Digital Holdings deeply values our relationships with the communities in which we live and work, and we appreciate the candid input that has been shared with us in recent weeks. Long term, we look forward to fostering a positive, mutually beneficial relationship with our neighbors. Importantly, over the next five years, we intend to invest $650 million in Hood County that will create direct and indirect job opportunities, demand for local business, and generate $2 million in annual tax contributions to fund essential services. Marathon recently took ownership of the site in Hood County and assumed full operational control. Prior to the purchase and taking on operation, the company was not aware of the noise issues. Now that we operate the site and have team members on-site, we are working to gather information and address the situation. We’ve been in close communication with Hood County residents and officials to learn more about this matter. 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. If there is a problem that we can influence, then we will do everything we can to address it. We believe Bitcoin mining can positively change the world and local communities, and look forward to proving that commitment to Hood County.
Neighbors told NBC 5 they were counting on the company to take action.
“Having a radio on doesn’t help, having sleep sounds on doesn’t help,” said Shadden. “None of us can sleep at night.”
Samuelson said she would be adding a community discussion about the Bitcoin noise to the agenda for the Hood County Commissioners Court meeting on Feb. 13.
