Residents of a town in Texas say they are being ‘tortured’ by debilitating health problems triggered by the deafening humming sound of a local Bitcoin mine.
Some of those living in rural Granbury, 40 miles outside Fort Worth, have told of heart problems, fluid leaking from the ears and fainting spells linked to the mine.
One five-year-old child was even sent to the ER after suffering extreme pain in her ears that she described as a, ‘red beam behind her eardrums’.
Now, experts fear this bleak picture could be repeated across hundreds more rural towns in the US as the Bitcoin mining operations expands.
The above shows the Bitcoin mine (left) and the Texan town of Granbury (right) about an hour by car from Fort Worth. Locals say they are being tortured by the noise
Pictured above is a local resident with a news reporter as the pair discuss the noise, which has been likened to that from a jet engine
The above map shows the locations of 50 of America’s 137 cryptomines. Officials are now starting to study how much electricity they use
A Bitcoin mine is a massive facility equipped with tens of thousands of high-powered computers that sift through codes to find lucrative Bitcoins.
The machines are housed on sites in large metal crates that look a bit like shipping containers. The machines generate heat that is countered by fans, which can be extremely noisy.
This noise can be as loud as 90 decibels (dB) in the surrounding neighborhood, which is equivalent to a chainsaw, blender or hair dryer running continuously.
The CDC says that being exposed to sounds at this level for more than two hours can cause permanent damage to the eardrums. It also says that for people to sleep, noises should be below 30 dB — about the sound of a whisper.
Alongside those in Texas, residents in Bono, Arkansas, and Williston, North Dakota, have also raised the alarm over the constant noise from their mine.
There are currently 137 Bitcoin mines in the US, a surge from before 2021 as factories move here from China — where they have been banned.
Cheryl Shadden, a neighbor of the Bitcoin mine, says it is so loud she can’t even hear someone talking when they are right next to her
Pictured above are local residents during a protest over the Bitcoin mine. Local officials say they are only able to fine the mine for noise pollution
The US now accounts for 38 percent of the world’s Bitcoin mining, compared to three percent beforehand.
Estimates suggest that by 2030 the mines will use eight percent of all US electricity, whereas today they use an estimated two percent.
In many cases, mines are built in areas with inexpensive electricity and low regulations — allowing them to make noise.
Attorney Mandy DeRoche from Earthjustice, which has campaigned against Bitcoin mines, told TIME: ‘Historically, Bitcoin miners go to the cheapest source of electricity with the least amount of regulation, and they do the cheapest thing possible.
‘It’s one of the reasons why noise pollution from crypto mining tends to be so much worse than traditionally-operated data center operators.’
In Granbury, $500 fines can be issued for sounds that are above 85 dB — although local officials do not have the power to impose further penalties or switch off the mine.
Meanwhile in Arkansas, officials have legislated to protect the companies over unhappy neighbors.
And in Indiana and Missouri, lawmakers are also looking to allow crypto companies to be exempt from noise laws.
Doctors suggest that the noise created by the fans can cause many of the health complications described by residents in Granbury and other areas near Bitcoin mines.
They say the noise and the lack of sleep it causes can lead to increased stress and inflammation in the body which, in serious cases, can cause complications such as heart palpitations.
Constant loud noises have also previously been linked to issues such as splitting headaches and migraines, although the exact mechanism is unclear.
After the Granbury mine opened in the summer of 2022, residents retreated from their porches into their homes to escape the noise.
But they quickly found it would reach them inside, with many finding windows would rattle and beds would vibrate.
Wildlife including rabbits, coyotes and birds also fled the area — while domestic chickens stopped laying eggs and dogs started to suffer spasms.
At least 40 residents have reported ailments that they believe are due to the noise from the Bitcoin mines so far, with at least ten being rushed to emergency care.
Among them was five-year-old Indigo Rosenkranz, who was rushed to the ER early in February 2023 screaming that she could feel a ‘red beam behind her eardrums’.
Her 43-year-old mother Sarah also collapsed unexpectedly at home suffering from a headache so strong it felt like ‘my head was in a pressure vise being crushed, it was worse than childbirth’.
In another case, 77-year-old pastor Larry Potts said his heart gave out in February this year after suffering from days upon days of sleepless nights. He was rushed to hospital and kept alive by an external pacemaker.
Jackie Sawicky, who is campaigning to stop the mines with the Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining, told DailyMail.com in a statement: ‘When China banned crypto and cryptomining in September 2021, Governor Greg Abbot [of Texas] personally invited them into our state citing cheap energy and a deregulated market.
‘Texas is now number one in crypto-mining and it has driven up all of our bills, they’re wasting precious water, they’re destabilizing the grid, and they’re torturing locals like the [Granbury community].
‘There are NO redeeming factors for the Bitcoin proof-of-waste industry. There is NO justification for squandering the country’s wealth this way.’
She is campaigning over a Bitcoin facility being built near her home in Corsicana, Texas, which will be the largest in the world when it is complete.
Granbury’s mine is owned by Marathon Digital Holdings, which is headquartered in Las Vegas and operates approximately 240,000 Bitcoin-mining machines. Its annual revenue is about $500million per year.
They say they are working to replace the fans with immersion technology at the site — which would see computers dumped into oil to keep them cool.
Last year, a 20,000-foot-long wall was built around the site — although this has done precious little to alleviate the noise pollution.
