(ABC 6 News) – A Bitcoin mining proposal in Osage, Iowa that was tabled back in October is back on the docket for an upcoming county meeting and it has some residents expressing their concerns once again.
The quietness of the rural community is at risk, Osage people say, if the new facility moves in.
About a mile north of the proposed site for the facility lives Lori Mark.
“My first encounter with it was a friend told me that this was in the works and that they were having a meeting about it,” she says.
That was back in October, when Simple Mining, the company behind the project, first pitched it to the Mitchell County Board of Adjusters.
At the time, dozens of people, including Mark, showed up to oppose the project – the issue ultimately being tabled indefinitely.
Now, it’s being reintroduced under a new proposal, which has Mark and her neighbors on the offense again.
The community has been told that the public will not be able to comment on the project at the upcoming meeting, but that isn’t stopping them from voicing their opinion.
“Even though we are not going to be allowed to speak, we do have petitions out circulating to let the board know, the voting members know, how we feel about it,” Mark says. “We don’t want it.”
Chief among their concerns is noise pollution, a common theme of these kinds of facilities across the country.
Mark Firtsch, another Osage local, says he’s heard them before.
“That noise was so loud, um, you could hear it from an Interstate when you’ve got traffic and trucks and everything else,” he said.
That may be true for large facilities that cover hundreds of acres, but proponents of the project say this one won’t be nearly as bad as those in other states.
Vince Morische is a nearby resident of Mitchell County, and was on the board of adjusters until recently, when the county attorney said his place on the board of the Heartland Power Cooperative, which is partnering with Simple Mining for the project, was a conflict of interest.
Still, Morische believes the concerns are being blown out of proportion based on what people see about those larger sites.
“I did the math, it’s going to sit on 0.07 acres,” he said. “We’re talking about something a fraction of the size of what’s making the news.”
Those behind the project have also acknowledged the concerns of the Osage community, and say they are looking into alternatives to address the issue.
Adam Haynes, founder and CEO of Simple Mining, said that’s what they’re proposing at the upcoming meeting.
“It’s a hydro-cooled solution,” he said. “So it’s basically the equivalent of an industrial air conditioner, so there’s virtually no noise associated with this particular set up.”
Haynes also said this new kind of system is completely closed off and wouldn’t need any water to be taken from the town’s supply.
Either way, it will be up to the county board for what comes next.
The meeting is scheduled for June 18 at 6:00 P.M. It will be held at the Nature Center of the Mitchell County Conservation to make sure there is plenty of space for everyone who wishes to attend.