ML restricts cryptocurrency mining

MOSES LAKE — After previously passing a 12-month prohibition on new cryptocurrency mining operations going into the majority of zones in the city, the council passed a halt Tuesday night that now prohibits new operations going into all city zones.

The difference between the 12-month moratorium, temporary prohibition, passed in May and the one passed Tuesday night, which was done on an emergency basis, is the new one prohibits new cryptocurrency mining operations, along with data centers and server farmers/clusters, going into all zones in the city. The moratorium passed in May allowed new operations to go into the light and heavy industrial zones.

According to the city, current mining operations that have been properly permitted/vested are not covered by the moratorium and can still operate. The city says the moratorium, which was placed on Tuesday night's council meeting agenda by Mayor Karen Liebrecht and passed in a 4-2 vote, will give them the necessary time to study the impacts of cryptocurrency operations on the electrical power distribution system, land use development patterns/distribution and state and local licensing rules.

Despite the measure's approval, the moratorium was not without its detractors on the council.

“We can't dictate what businesses come into our community,” council member Ryann Leonard said. “I stood before I was on this council at that podium and tried to get changes of zoning for another industry that came into our community that's controversial and the council here told me no, that is not something we want to do is regulate where certain industry can go.”

Rhyan Reid, who works with a cryptocurrency mining operation in town, warned the council that after Wenatchee put into place a similar measure concerning cryptocurrency mining, miners are no longer looking at coming to Wenatchee and the same could happen to Moses Lake. In a dramatic display during Tuesday night's meeting cryptocurrency miner Walter Cox, who spoke out against the moratorium during the initial May meeting, spoke out again and revealed he had been cryptocurrency mining from his computer during the meeting.

“The city government is using the power of the state in an attempt to settle a small dispute between neighbors by limiting what software I can run on my computer. To illustrate the absurdity of this, since the beginning of this meeting I have been running cryptocurrency right here in these chambers and at this very podium,” Cox told the council. “This unpermitted mining of course is for the benefit of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), not myself, to help them feed refugee children in Bangladesh.”

For every cryptocurrency proponent at Tuesday night's meeting, there was an almost equal number of people who don't want to see the operations in Moses Lake. Resident Doug Sly, whose neighbor runs a residential cryptocurrency mining operation, reiterated his stance that the industry's large power usage is one of the biggest threats to Grant County's economy that he has seen for quite some time.

“In simplified terms, Bitcoin mining is a competition to waste the most electricity possible by doing pointless arithmetic quintillions of times a second. The more electricity you burn and the faster your computer, the higher your chances of winning the competition. While burning more electricity increases your chances of winning, it decreases everyone else's, so they burn more electricity in turn,” Sly remarked.

Amongst the councilmembers who voted in favor of the moratorium, the consensus seemed to be that more time is needed to study the issue. The industry is rapidly evolving at a fast pace and there are many unknowns.

Grant County PUD commissioners have approved the creation of the “evolving industries” class to account for an influx of inquiries/requests for electrical service, 75 percent of which were from cryptocurrency firms. The rate for the class is still being determined and is expected to be implemented by Aug. 1. A public hearing on Moses Lake's moratorium will be held during the July 10 council meeting for the public to weigh in on the issue.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.