Rural Texans are Forming a City to Fight a Noisy Crypto Facility

Residents in a rural North Texas county are fighting back against a noisy cryptocurrency facility that they say is disrupting their idyllic community.

“The facility, built in 2022, is a sprawling compound of computers stored in containers roughly the size of the mobile homes less than 100 yards away, where dozens of families live,” explains Colleen DeGuzman in the Texas Tribune. “Some compare it to a plane that never lands, or a lawnmower that never turns off. A county commissioner said it’s like ‘sleeping with a leafblower under your pillow.’ No matter the comparison, there’s one common thread — it’s relentless.”

Because only the state and municipalities have the power to issue noise ordinances in Texas, residents are now putting forward a ballot measure to create a new city. If successful, they will then be able to create their own noise ordinance and force the crypto company to take further action. Many residents say they don’t particularly want to become a city, but see no other path forward after their pleas to the state to enact a stricter noise ordinance in the area received no response.

According to the Texas Blockchain Council, the state is home to 27 bitcoin facilities including the to largest in the world. “In 2023, according to the state’s comptroller’s office, crypto mines across Texas used around 2,717 megawatts of power, enough to power roughly 680,000 homes and far surpassing anywhere else in North America; Georgia is a distant second, at 525 megawatts.”