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Highlights
- The US Department of Energy's EIA has suspended its planned Bitcoin mining survey
- The Energy regulator stopped its plans after being sued by Bitcoin interest groups
- Controversy surrounding Bitcoin mining and energy usage remain high
The United States Department of Energy announced its decision to temporarily suspend the intended emergency survey of Bitcoin mining operator’s use of energy.
EIA Picks Battle Against the Bitcoin Mining Industry
According to a filing made to a Texas federal Court, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will halt its mandatory survey for over a month and keep the data that had already been secured from stakeholders in the Bitcoin mining industry earlier this February.
Markedly, both Riot Platforms and the Texas Blockchain Council had previously sued the administration of President Joe Biden. The case was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on February 22.
They had planned to boycott the survey citing that it could cause potential harm to businesses by compelling them to release confidential and sensitive information. For the EIA, this information is necessary to ascertain that the increased use of electricity by crypto miners, driven by the recent jump in Bitcoin prices, is harmful to the reliability of the electricity grid.
In the plaintiff’s opinion, Bitcoin mines which unarguably utilize a significant amount of electricity for operations like computing and cooling data processing centers, are capable of improving the electricity grid’s reliability.
For context, they could be shut down as soon as possible to settle any surge in energy demand during weather events that are capable of leading to a blackout.
EIA Accused of Abuse of Power
The demand from the EIA was tagged to be based on “speculation and conjecture” that Bitcoin mining could serve as a threat to the energy grid. As such, it did not follow the required proper public notice and comment requirements under federal paperwork reduction and administrative laws.
Consequently, the plaintiffs requested a permanent injunction from the court which mandates that EIA first complies with the law before going ahead to request the data. Even Perianne Boring, CEO and founder of the Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC), announced that the association has taken legal action against the EIA.
Boring perceives the move as an abuse of power by the EIA which equally poses a threat to the Bitcoin mining ecosystem.
“This is a case about sloppy government process, contrived and self-inflicted urgency, and invasive government data collection,” the plaintiffs added.
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