A four-year dispute between rural Hood County residents and a close-by Bitcoin mining operation has uncovered the social prices of Texas’ cryptocurrency growth. Owners turned on one of many state’s largest digital asset mining corporations.
On the middle of the dispute is a big Bitcoin mine operated by MARA Holdings close to Granbury in unincorporated Hood County.
Bitcoin mining is fixed psychological torture
Neighbors say the fixed low-frequency noise from the ability’s cooling system has turned day by day life into what they name a endless ordeal. MARA (previously Marathon Digital) says it operates legally, brings funding and jobs, and takes steps to cut back noise.
The mine started operations in 2022 subsequent to a pure fuel energy plant exterior Granbury. Residents quickly reported noise across the clock, likening it to “standing on a runway” or “the sting of Niagara Falls.” Complaints intensified into 2023 as the positioning expanded.
Residents’ feedback on the Bitcoin mining scenario in Hood County
“I hear this noise day-after-day once I stroll out the again door,” one resident stated in a latest information story. Al Jazeera reported. Some complained of sleepless nights, complications and stress. “The group is sick,” stated one other resident. “It isn’t simply noise, it is bodily bombardment. It is torture.”
Texas crypto growth reaches regional restrict
Texas will turn out to be the biggest Bitcoin mining hub in the USA, offering almost 30% of the nation’s mining energy by 2023, because of low cost land, low taxes, and a deregulated energy market.
This development collides with essential authorized realities. Counties in Texas typically can not go necessary noise ordinances. Solely cities can do this.
Hood County officers sought to implement the state’s “unreasonable noise” ordinance in 2024, issuing citations tied to excessive decibel thresholds.
Nevertheless, this effort stalled in courtroom, demonstrating how slender these legal guidelines are in comparison with typical municipal noise limits.
Litigation and sound investigation
Residents organized a non-public nuisance lawsuit in state courtroom, claiming that the noise and vibrations from the mine had been significantly interfering with using their properties.
The case continues to be ongoing, with ongoing disputes over entry to operational knowledge and measurements.
Individually, Hood County commissioned an impartial acoustic survey in late 2024. The report documented a rise in noise ranges close to the positioning and highlighted that the authorized requirements used within the prison code are much more permissive than noise requirements in different cities.
The research additionally factors out that there are limitations in entry and adjustment that don’t enable full analysis below all working circumstances.
Bitcoin mining hashrate world map. Supply: Chain Information
MARA says it has made vital investments to cut back the influence. The corporate constructed giant noise boundaries, changed some cooling followers with quieter fashions, and commenced transitioning elements of the positioning to immersion cooling.
In a press release cited by Al Jazeera, MARA stated it has invested greater than $320 million domestically, supported dozens of jobs, generated tax income and “stays dedicated to being a great neighbor.”
For residents, these measures haven’t but gone far sufficient.
“This was our perpetually dwelling,” one home-owner stated. “I can not promote my property. I am now being taxed at the next price than the worth of my property.”
Cityhood bid fails
In 2025, residents took a final resort. They wish to incorporate their group as a metropolis, which might enable them to enact native noise legal guidelines.
The hassle garnered nationwide consideration and confronted authorized opposition from MARA, however a decide allowed the vote to proceed. Voters finally rejected the incorporation, ending the try to realize metropolis authority.
“That was the plan,” the organizer informed Al Jazeera. “Nevertheless it simply fell aside as a result of they misplaced that battle.”
Incorporation is off the desk, however residents say they may proceed to struggle in courtroom.
The publish MARA’s Bitcoin mining has turn out to be a nightmare for this Texas city appeared first on BeInCrypto.
