Sign Letter to Governor Cuomo re: Greenidge permits

Campaign News, Updates / April 14, 2022

Dear Friend of the Finger Lakes,

Please urge Governor Cuomo to immediately revoke the existing air and SPDES permits for Greenidge gas-powered facility’s power generation and use. Below, please find the link to a letter to Cuomo for you to sign.

If you are a business or organization, please sign here: https://forms.gle/cre8WD6ScBun3PAU7

If you are an individual, please sign here: https://forms.gle/wsxdbX8UCwiZj6HVA 

Location: Dresden, NY in the Town of Torrey, along the shores of Seneca Lake

Background:

Greenidge is an old coal power plant with an already bad environmental history. It was converted to a gas fired plant for use as a “peaker plant”- to be used only when excess energy was needed by the grid, and not run continually. Now, its out of state owners at Atlas Holdings (https://www.atlasholdingsllc.com/) want to expand operations by proposing an increase of 700% from historical use for a privately owned bitcoin operation which would consume enough power to fuel more than 90,000 homes. That’s bigger than 2 of Amazon’s immense data centers; all so millionaire Private Equity guys in Connecticut can generate 5 bitcoins per day. Greenidge is using a 67-year old steam turbine that operates at 35% efficiency and should have been retired decades ago (by comparison modern turbines operate at 65% efficiency).

Major Concerns with Greenidge Power Plant Expansion

  • It’s bad for the climate. This facility will emit tons of greenhouse gases per year, and because it’s set up to operate “behind the meter”, it won’t get considered in Governor Cuomo’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which limits statewide greenhouse gas emissions to 40% of 1990 levels by 2030 and 85% by 2050.
  • It’s bad for the Keuka Outlet. The project discharges hot water up to 108 degrees F. into the Keuka Outlet- almost directly into Seneca Lake. The temperature limits for trout streams, like the Keuka Outlet, is 70 degrees F. This stresses and kills trout and other cold-water fish.
  • It’s bad for Seneca Lake. The hot water will increase the incidences of HABS. The system is not using protective measures to prevent fish, eggs, and other aquatic life from being killed at their water intake location. 
  • It’s bad for the Finger Lakes economy. What damages our fragile ecosystem will also damage our agri-tourism industry. In addition to harming Seneca Lake, a drinking water source for over 100,000 people, this facility will increase noise levels not only in the surrounding area but also across the lake, since noise travels easily across open water. Bitcoin servers are prohibited from being used in traditional data centers because they make so much noise, use too much energy, and generate too much heat. Very few jobs will be created if the facility expands, and what little employment is created will go to people outside our region. The owners are located in Connecticut and very little revenue will be realized by the Finger Lakes community. Bill Harris, former founding CEO PayPal, Intuit, Personal capital has called Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining, “a colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen.”
  • It’s not necessary. The Public Service Commission and the Finger Lakes Community has been misled so Atlas could secure a Certificate for Public Convenience and Necessity and Lightened Regulation. This project is no longer designed to meet the reasonable needs of the public since Greenidge was originally permitted to generate power for public use, and now it is generating power primarily for its own, private bitcoin mining operation. Currently, 60-70% of all Bitcoin mining is done in China, but even the Chinese are considering completely banning the activity as a waste of resources. Atlas is bringing this wasteful activity to Seneca Lake and using an inefficient, old plant to do it. 

We need YOUR help!  Please urge Governor Cuomo to immediately revoke the existing air and SPDES permits for Greenidge gas-powered facility’s power generation and use.

If you are a business or organization, please sign on to a letter to Governor Cuomo here: https://forms.gle/cre8WD6ScBun3PAU7

If you are an individual, please sign here: https://forms.gle/wsxdbX8UCwiZj6HVA 

Thank you for your help in protecting the Finger Lakes.

Board of Directors

Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes Inc

PO Box 505

Penn Yan NY 14527