SAINT MARYS, Pa. (WTAJ) — Bitcoin mining and solar energy facilities are becoming more and more common in America.
Some of these facilities can cause problems and raise prices. In St. Marys, they are making new zoning ordinances to prevent issues.
“We’re not taking a reactive to where issues are occurring and then we have to backtrack and see what we can do,” Joe Fleming the Saint Marys City Manager said.
The Saint Marys City Council proposed the new zoning ordinance. Some of the most common issues with the facilities are noise, pollution, and cost.
“We see where it’s a trend and in order to get the proactive approach that these discussions did come up because of what other issues other municipalities are having with them,” Fleming added. “Making sure that the noise ordinance because especially if we’re looking at generators running at nonelectrical bitcoin mining facilities to making sure that they’re under a certain decibel so that it doesn’t cause a nuisance to the surrounding area.”
With solar energy, the problem is the cost that could come with it.
“Even though it’s not quite feasible as a primary for this area but it could serve as an alternate or backup,” Fleming said.
But for the city council protecting the community is key
“With the bitcoin mining, we have to be careful that it doesn’t overwhelm our grid. We do have an electrical infrastructure that we have to have intact and with bitcoin mining, they are part of that grid and it could actually rise the cost of our energy even locally,” Fleming said.
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The city council is set to vote on the new ordinance at Monday’s meeting
