HB 585: Bitcoin mining in your backyard? — 2024
ICL's position: Oppose
Current Bill Status: Failed on House Floor
Issue Areas: Air quality, Climate Change, Energy, Wildlife
Rep. Elaine Price (R-Coeur d’Alene) and Rep. Dustin Manwaring (R-Pocatello) introduced HB 585 in the House State Affairs Committee. The bill seeks to eliminate discriminatory practices against bitcoin mining and to prohibit any local ordinances that do not also apply to data centers. The bill would also apply certain property tax exemptions to “cryptocurrency mining.”
If you’re curious what cryptocurrency mining is, you’re not alone. Here’s a video you can watch that (attempts) to explain it simply in under two minutes.
The bottom line is that in other states where similar legislation has passed, large bitcoin mining operations have moved into rural and residential neighborhoods, leading to conflicts associated with noise, lighting, and energy consumption.
In Arkansas, where a bill was passed with minimal public review, one of the representatives who voted for the bill is now leading the charge to repeal it, after seeing the results.
Energy consumption from cryptocurrency mining has been estimated at 2% of US energy usage. Plus, as cryptocurrency mining operations have expanded in the US, electricity prices spike for other ratepayers has increase in Washington, New York, Kentucky and in Texas, where rates have spiked 4.7%, according to conservative estimates from consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.
Finally, if the cookie cutter bill passes in Idaho, and other states where it’s pending, it would allow for taxpayer-supported expansion of cryptomining, leading to significant strains on the energy grid.