{"id":10054,"date":"2022-07-16T14:39:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-16T14:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/07\/16\/democratic-lawmakers-ask-federal-agencies-to-crack-down-on-crypto-mining\/"},"modified":"2022-07-16T14:39:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T14:39:04","slug":"democratic-lawmakers-ask-federal-agencies-to-crack-down-on-crypto-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/07\/16\/democratic-lawmakers-ask-federal-agencies-to-crack-down-on-crypto-mining\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic lawmakers ask federal agencies to crack down on crypto mining"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/7\/16\/23220671\/bitcoin-cryptomining-democratic-lawmakers-letter-epa-energy-department<\/a>
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On Friday, Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic members of Congress sent a letter<\/a> to two federal regulators, urging them to take action on the explosion of Bitcoin mining in the US. <\/p>\n

Sent to the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy, the letter was spurred by preliminary investigation from lawmakers, which found that just a handful of cryptominers use an enormous amount of energy. In response, the lawmakers ask the agencies to require that crypto-mining companies share data on their energy use and emissions.<\/p>\n

Seven of the biggest crypto-mining companies in the US have the collective capacity to use over 1 gigawatt of electricity, according to the letter<\/a>. That\u2019s the equivalent of two standard coal plants or, as the letter puts it, almost enough to power all the residences in Houston. That\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg, since there are no federal measures in place to capture a complete picture of the environmental impact of the recent boom in US crypto-mining.<\/p>\n

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