US Senator Elizabeth Warren is leading a group of Democratic lawmakers pressing Texas officials for details on how crypto currency miners may be straining the state’s power grid, impacting climate change and profiting from programs to ensure the lights stay on.
In a letter Wednesday, the lawmakers asked the Texas grid operator to provide details on almost six years of crypto miners’ electricity usage, their carbon-dioxide emissions and how consumers’ energy bills will be impacted as they expand. They’re also asking the grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, to disclose payouts to miners for curtailing power use during extreme demand periods.
“Cryptominers’ energy use rivals that of entire countries, and taxpayers — in Texas or anywhere in the nation — shouldn’t subsidize their profits, especially when the energy grid is on the verge of collapse,” Warren, who represents Massachusetts, said in a statement.
The letter was also signed by Texas Rep. Al Green, Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey and several other Democrats.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other Republican lawmakers in the state have aggressively courted crypto miners, who have flocked to the region for its cheap power and laissez faire regulation. They’ve argued that miners could actually make the state’s power grid more stable and flexible because they can quickly shutdown when power demand spikes.
Critics, however, say miners may be adding to stress on the state grid in the wake of the 2021 winter storm that killed more than 200 people and plunged millions into darkness for days.
-With assistance from Will Wade.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.