Republican Rep. Tom Emmer calls government agency’s investigation into Bitcoin miners an ‘abuse of power’

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., has a bone to pick with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget over its recent decision to allow data collection from Bitcoin mining companies in the states -United.

Emmer said he wanted answers from OMB after the government agency allowed last month for the Energy Information Administration (EIA) — a statistical and analytical agency within the US Department of Energy – to begin investigating some crypto mining companies on their electricity consumption. Emmer raised concerns about OMB’s use of its emergency approval authority and said in a letter that Bitcoin miners do not currently present a threat to public safety. sent to OMB Director Shalanda Young this week.

“Bitcoin mining does not pose a threat to public safety. Period,” Emmer said in a statement. job on X Thursday. “OMB’s abuse of its emergency powers to attack Bitcoin miners requires an explanation.”

Emmer said the agency must prove to the OMB that “public harm is reasonably likely,” among other criteria.

“With the help of the OMB, the EIA appears to reinforce the Biden administration’s regressive policy stance against energy consumption and subjectively apply it to the digital asset sector,” Emmer said in his letter.

Emmer posed questions to the OMB, including what criteria the agency used to “determine the legitimacy of ’emergency'” and whether the EIA obtained public input beforehand.

Emmer did not set a deadline for OMB to respond.

The OMB did not respond to a request for comment and the EIA declined to comment.

A trial ensues

Emmer’s letter comes as the Texas Blockchain Council and bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms, Inc. sued the Department of Energy in a Texas district court on Thursday, claiming the investigation was “unlawfully approved » by OMB.

“This is a case of botched government process, artificial and self-inflicted emergency and invasive government data collection,” the complaint bed.

Members of the Texas Blockchain Council, including Riot, say the investigation will require “multiple, multi-hour employees at each company each month,” although the EIA said it would only take half an hour each month, according to the complaint.

“Absent the Court’s intervention, the plaintiffs, members of TBC and other mining companies who received and are required to complete the legally flawed survey will suffer immediate and irreparable harm by being forced to disclose confidential, sensitive and proprietary information to EIA, which had no legal authority to request or collect,” they said in the complaint.

The EIA declined to comment on the lawsuit, and the OMB and Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment.

Concerns About Bitcoin Mining Energy Consumption

Electricity demand linked to crypto mining operations in the United States has increased rapidly in recent years, according to a statement published by the EIA in February.

“As cryptocurrency mining has grown in the United States, concerns have increased about the energy-intensive nature of this activity and its effects on the U.S. electricity industry. Concerns expressed to the EIA include strains on the electricity grid during periods of peak demand, the potential for higher electricity prices, as well as effects on energy-related carbon dioxide (CO)₂) emissions,” the EIA said.

Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Katie Porter of California, have voiced their opinions. concerns about the strain crypto mining companies are putting on the Texas power grid and its effect on climate change.

“Cryptomining adds significant demand to an already unreliable network, ‘posing enormous challenges to the transportation and distribution system as well as prices’ and contributing to the global climate crisis,” the lawmakers said in 2022.

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