Town, village of Massena keeping cryptocurrency mining moratoriums | Business

Trustee Francis J. Carvel said he had talked with Massena Electric Department Superintendent Andrew J. McMahon about the impact of cryptocurrency operations on Massena’s electric grid.

“He was saying that cryptocurrency mining does not belong inside the village because the infrastructure is not really set up for that type of a thing,” Mr. Carvel said. “Out in the country there’s certain areas where they have the ability to give them as much power as they need. But, inside the village it would be, let’s put it this way, it would be a headache, and it would be a safety factor also.”

Mr. Carvel said he was told there was a request from one business for 2,000 amps, which he said is equivalent to the amount of power used by 10 residential homes.

“I believe the only ones in the village that get that type of hookup are commercial,” Mayor Gregory M. Paquin said.

Mr. Carvel said Mr. McMahon told him “it would be wise to keep them out of the village.”

“We don’t even know how many are here right now. We don’t know how many are operating out of houses that people have bought recently. We don’t know if they moved in computers and mining,” he said.

Massena Town Board members, meanwhile, have scheduled another public hearing for April 27 to extend their moratorium, which is set to expire on April 30.

Town attorney Eric J. Gustafson said he had heard rumors that the state would propose a moratorium, but there are no guarantees. He said the town isn’t yet ready to finalize a local law that would regulate the operations.

The board had extended the moratorium on cryptocurrency mining operations until April 30 after several people spoke out against them during a recent public hearing. The previous moratorium was set to expire Feb. 28.

That meeting drew a full house that filled the board room, with speakers sharing concerns about issues such as noise, aesthetics and the impact on the environment.

Town officials first started discussing a potential moratorium in July 2018 because town regulations did not address cryptocurrency mining operations, and they needed time to get regulations in place. Sea boxes and trailers were among the concerns when the board placed its first moratorium on any future operations.

North Country Data Center, a subsidiary of the cryptocurrency mining company Coinmint, has set up its operation at the former Alcoa East plant, though the town’s code did not address data centers and technology parks. Even though nothing in the code addressed cryptocurrency operations, the Massena Planning Board approved the site plan and special use permit for the operation because it fell within guidelines that were part of the code.