North Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - Drivers along Erie Avenue in North Tonawanda may not notice anything unusual as they pass by the former Fortistar natural-gas site along the train tracks. A large manufacturing building with a smokestack fits into the landscape with a modest entrance to the facility.
Since the site has been taken over by a Digihost, a cryptocurrency interest, giant structures resembling shipping containers have been located on the property and are said to be the source of a great deal of noise.
Residents are raising concerns and some are seeking an injunction to stop the cryptocurrency mining plant from continuing to operate. They say their main concern is the noise coming from the facility.
Darlene Bolsover has been concerned about her daughter, who lives near the plant. "My biggest concern has been the noise factor," says Bolsover.
"She did call me up and wonder what was wrong with the house when the noise was occurring. So she is not happy? Because it affects her sleep. She was also not happy because her it was affecting her dog. And so then I stepped in to understand what this was going to do to the quality of her life." Bolsover says the hum was something her daughter was originally hearing and the dog has been barking.
Debbie Gondek is among the residents who are speaking out and says she is not only concerned about noise, but transparency.
"When the project first came to light in August of 2021, the planning board the Common Council, we really feel didn't do their due diligence on this project. And thinking that if they had done things like a noise, a formal noise study, by an objective third party, full environmental impact statement, a public hearing, we need updates to the zoning code in order to properly address Bitcoin mining facilities and any, you know, facilities that authenticate blockchain to protect residents from noise and other forms of pollution," says Gondek.
Gondek says then-Councilmember Austin Tylec had sought a moratorium, but was outvoted by his colleagues. "First time we had an opportunity in our city, and often wanted to give city officials and residents the time to really research and understand what the pros and cons would be for our community. And unfortunately, the common council voted that down," adds Gondek. She says she and others had sent in letters from various experts on zoning, environmental and the Clean Air Coalition, "and we were learning from other communities across New York state, that noise was probably the biggest issue that they were experiencing." She says residents can hear the plant's noise with their windows closed.
Tylec, now North Tonawanda's mayor, says he's done testing on noise. "it's around 50 rounds 60 decibels. So I think the comparison is like a vacuum cleaner. But imagine you're close to the vacuum cleaner, right? So it's a little confusing with acoustics, but they have been within the range per city ordinances, but it's still causing quite a disturbance," notes Tylec.
Tylec says he proposed a moratorium last year. "The idea was that we'd look into issues like noise if there was water concerns, exiting plans, basically anything that might come up as a concern is it going to increase electricity costs for surrounding neighborhoods, so on. So now, we really have to monitor their noise levels, make sure that they're under our city ordinances or existing city ordinances," says Tylec.
Tylec notes the city has been working with Digihost. "They have been in communication with the city. They're working with engineers, acoustic engineers, to create dampers for those gray pods. And the hope is that they'll be moving this sort of test version that many have seen outside of these gray pods, moving that into the gray pods in which the sound will be tampered. So it's it's going to be a few weeks, they said of testing whatever operation with the crypto mining, and we're hopefully going to have them reduce their sound in the meantime," says Tylec.
A hearing is set to be held Wednesday as residents seek an injunction. "The reason we put this matter to the court is because the local government wasn't listening to us, our hope is to get the injunction to cease and desist until a further noise study can be done. A full environmental impact can be done the public hearing of the residents of North Tonawanda to know exactly what their concerns are, and to update our zoning code," explains Bolsover. She says while a public utility company has been on the property since 1992, a Bitcoin operation has not. "One is a private Bitcoin mining operation. And that's why we as residents, took it upon ourselves to go to the courts and say please understand that this is not the same company. This isn't what was offered to us. This isn't what we've had the ability to have over in the past." The property had been a Fortistar natural gas site.
A rally is also set for 5:30 p.m. EST Tuesday night at North Tonawanda City Hall.
A request for comment from Digihost was not returned.
