TCCPI is a multisector collaboration seeking to leverage the climate action commitments made by Cornell University, Ithaca College, Tompkins Cortland Community College, Tompkins County, the City of Ithaca, and the Town of Ithaca to mobilize a countywide energy efficiency effort and accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. Launched in June 2008 and generously supported by the Park Foundation, TCCPI is a project of the Sustainable Markets Foundation.

New York State Assemblyperson Anna Kelles wants to put a pause on not just the Cayuga Power Plant but also other former plants in upstate New York that have been converted into data centers.

Massena, Plattsburgh and Somerset all either have data centers or are planning to. New York has just under 20% of the Bitcoin miners in the United States, which is second only to Texas.

Kelles has a bill in the Assembly that would put a three-year moratorium on data mining centers that use a currency-validating method called proof-of-work, which uses fossil fuels. Proof-of-work requires a high amount of electric power, with computers needing to process mathematical equations at peak speeds 24 hours a day.

Kelles said within two years of a moratorium going through, she would want the Department of Environmental Conservation to do a full study of the potential environmental impacts.

“Cayuga Lake has had the largest number of harmful algal bloom outbreaks of any lake in the Finger Lakes,” Kelles said. “They were using lake water for the Cayuga Power Plant, but we may be at a tipping point for the lake health that we can’t afford to add on another significant offense to that system.”

Kelles said she views cryptocurrency technology as revolutionary, but there has to be a way for the plants to use renewable energy. If not, she said the plant could use enough electricity to power 16,400 homes, more than the population of Lansing. She said it’s hard to see how the grid can handle that kind of pressure.

“If this facility becomes a cryptomining operation, the only way they would be off the grid and not using fossil fuels is if they had renewable energy infrastructure completely on site,” she said. “As long as they’re tied into the grid, then they’re contributing to the pressure on the grid and the increased demand on fossil fuels.”

She also cited the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which was signed by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and aims to have New York getting 85% of its energy from non-renewable resources by 2050. She said she thinks that would be a difficult goal to achieve if more towns bring in data centers that use fossil fuels.

The proposed moratorium passed the state Senate last year but failed to pass the Assembly. Kelles said she and others in the Assembly will try again in 2022, and she thinks there has been positive momentum.

“Since [the bill didn’t pass], there has been a tremendous amount of education for the public on this issue and a tremendous amount of concern expressed publicly by residents where there is cryptocurrency mining,” she said.

Editor's note: The Lansing Town Council decided at a special meeting on February 2 to move forward with revising the zoning code to prohibit cryptocurrency mining. It hopes to have a draft law outlining the zoning code changes ready in time for a public hearing at its March 16 meeting.

Due to the current pandemic, the monthly TCCPI meetings have moved online. Contact Peter Bardaglio, the TCCPI coordinator, for further details at pbardaglio@gmail.com.

“I had the good fortune to be able to look at a lot of good models all around the country,” she said. “I’ve been all over borrowing different components and about five years into that, I was saying ‘I’m seeing so much more possibility than what this program I’m managing could absorb.’ Then someone at the county said, ‘If only we had a reuse center.’”

A reuse center had been part of Tompkins County's long-term plans, waiting for the right person to come along to bring the project to life. Barb Eckstrom, director of Recycling and Materials Management at Tompkins County, pulled Cohen aside one day and asked what she would need to plan a reuse center. She helped Cohen with outreach to stakeholders and asked her to become the coordinator for the whole project.

During the three-year planning process that started in 2005, Cohen explored what motivated individuals in the community to donate and purchase reuse items. She found that convenience and affordability were the top priorities, so those became the foundational concepts the center adopted when it opened its doors: operate seven days a week and keep pricing accessible and affordable to serve all.

Reflecting back on the years, Cohen said, “It’s been a constant learning curve, we’re constantly trying to improve and we strive to know the best process.”

The recent expansion at Triphammer Marketplace has doubled the organization’s retail space, and both engagement and donations have increased. “We’re entering into an arena where we’re almost industrial-scale,” Cohen said. “Our 2021 sales were up more than 35% over 2020...We started 2020 with 50 employees and ended with 80. The goal for 2022 is to manage donations so employees can process them more efficiently and customers can see more flow.

Statewide, Cohen observed, the historic focus on recycling has shifted to an increasing emphasis on reuse. She said that it’s gratifying to share some of the lessons she’s learned along the way with other communities to leverage and inspire more reuse throughout New York.

“I’ve started learning how profound the simple act of reuse can be,” said Cohen. “The more we’ve done the more I realized we’re affecting people, changing lives, creating opportunity, not just reducing waste but we’re saving energy, teaching skills; there’s just so many positives with this very simple act of just being a little bit thoughtful.”

“Unfortunately, the climate events of 2021—with above-normal and record-breaking temperatures, along with intense precipitation events—are a harbinger of future climate conditions, as they align with climate-model projections in a world with increasing greenhouse gas concentrations,” said Art DeGaetano, director of the climate center and professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The Northeast region also endured three back-to-back tropical storms -– Fred, Henri and Ida in late August and early September—and historic, record-breaking rains.

Boston; Portland and Caribou, Maine, shattered records for average June temperatures. That month, Boston was an average of 74.4 degrees (68 degrees, normal), while Portland averaged 68.9 degrees (64.3 degrees, normal) and Caribou—one of the region’s perennial cool spots—experienced 64.9 degrees (61.4, normal.)

On June 30, Newark (103 degrees) and Boston (100 degrees) logged their all-time hottest June temperatures.

Several cities set or tied records for the greatest number of June days with a high temperature of at least 95 degrees, including Newark (8), Boston (5), Concord, New Hampshire (3) and Burlington, Vermont (2). Concord saw its greatest number of June days (9) with a high of at least 90 degrees.

The NRCC saw that 26 of 35 major climate sites in the region had a wetter than normal month in July. Four places—Concord at 13.04 inches (3.62 inches, normal); Worcester, Massachusetts at 13.85 inches (3.93 inches, normal; Binghamton, New York at 9.82 inches (3.8 inches, normal; and Huntington, West Virginia at 9.50 inches (5.08 inches, normal)—endured their wettest July on record.

Heat did not abate: The month of August ranked as the warmest on record for Caribou, Syracuse, and Buffalo, and ranked among the 10 warmest on record for 25 regional locations.

Tropical Storm Fred rumbled through the region on Aug. 18-20, spawning 10 tornadoes, seven of which touched down in Pennsylvania. Fred’s remnants, together with a frontal system, produced heavy rain in central and western New York, northern Connecticut, and central Pennsylvania, which endured between 4 and 8 inches of rain.

On Aug. 22, Tropical Storm Henri made landfall near Westerly, Rhode Island. That storm dropped 5 to 9 inches of rain in parts of southeast New York, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, according to the NRCC. In fact, Central Park in New York City recorded its wettest two-day period on record for August, picking up 7.12 inches of rain from Aug. 21 to 22.

Tropical Depression Ida on Sept. 1 brought a catastrophic volume of rain (8- to 11-inch rainfall totals) to the region, from eastern Pennsylvania to northern and central New Jersey, through the New York City metro area and into southern New England, which saw rainfall totals of more than 6 inches. Newark got 8.41 inches of rain, making it the city’s all-time wettest day on record and leading September 2021 to become the site’s wettest September on record with 10.50 inches (3.82, normal).

The NRCC is part of CALS, and it is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. DeGaetano is a faculty fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, and he serves on the state’s Climate Impacts Assessment project steering committee.

When political leaders demonstrate the courage of their convictions, it's immediately evident. Perhaps it’s because the authenticity shines through the usual political fog so brightly. All pretense drops, the language becomes direct and straightforward, and the clear meaning of their words rings out.

The most striking example recently of such leadership, one that has been both inspiring and breathtaking, is that of President Volodymyr Zelensky. He has not shied away from acknowledging the immense military odds stacked against Ukraine or downplayed the difficulty ordinary Ukrainians face. He has invoked a deep sense of common purpose and brought his country together.

Kathy Hochul sworn in as the 57th governor of New York. Photo by NY Senate licensed under CC BY 2.0.

In a different way and at a very different level, Gov. Kathy Hochul has a similar opportunity to demonstrate the courage of her convictions. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), signed into law in 2019, laid out aggressive benchmarks for New York to reduce its carbon emissions. Gov. Hochul has emphatically expressed her support for the CLCPA, proclaiming in her recent State of the State address that climate change is “a threat to our way of life, here and now.” She boldly called for a ban on the use of natural gas in new construction after 2027, the rapid development of offshore wind, and the phasing out of peaker plants—only used when excess energy is needed by the grid—as well as older fossil-fuel power plants.

Another closely related issue offers Hochul a similar chance to display bold leadership: imposing a statewide moratorium on proof-of-work bitcoin mining, a practice that poses a profound threat to the climate. As noted in this issue’s lead article, Assemblymember Anna Kelles has introduced a bill that would place a three-year moratorium on proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining. The bill is currently making its way through the legislative process and has gained the support of 41 co-sponsors and 15 key committee chairs in the Assembly.

So far the governor has said very little about bitcoin mining, its environmental impact, or whether she supports a moratorium. It’s time she stepped forward.

Why is this action so critical?

Proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining consumes a tremendous amount of energy to operate the multiple, high-powered computers that validate the exchange of bitcoins as well as the cooling technology needed to keep the machines from overheating. In fact, a Cambridge University study concluded that bitcoin mining uses more electricity annually than the entire country of Argentina.

What is especially galling is that proof-of-work is only one way to mine cryptocurrency. “Proof-of-stake, another popular method, uses far less energy,” points out Yvonne Taylor, co-founder and vice president of Seneca Lake Guardian. But, she notes, proof-of-work’s energy use in the U.S. has grown 320% in just the past five years. New York, moreover, hosts nearly 20% of that.

Thanks to the work of Taylor and other environmentalists, attention in New York has focused on Greenidge Generation, a recently revived operation located on Seneca Lake. Formerly a coal-fired power station, it turned to natural gas when it reopened its doors. Originally intended to be a peaker plant, no one knew it would become a private bitcoin mining operation that ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Greenidge’s Title V air permit is currently up for renewal, as discussed in our last issue. The decision on the renewal was due Jan. 31 but has been postponed to March 31 so that the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) could “complete its ongoing review” of about 4,000 public comments on the case. As Peter Mantius reports, however, the delay provides Greenidge with the ability to expand its operations.

Under the CLCPA, the state is required to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030. The importance of doing so was underscored by today’s release of a report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that the pace of global warming threatens to overcome our ability to adapt to it. Greenidge is just one of many fossil-fuel power plants retired in upstate New York that could potentially be reopened for proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining; the possibility of Cayuga Power Plant going down this road punctuates the point.

If the bitcoin mining industry is allowed to continue growing without any oversight or regulation, the ability to achieve the CLCPA goals will be put in serious jeopardy. For the governor to be true to her word that climate change is a threat to our way of life, it’s clear what her next move must be: declare a moratorium on bitcoin mining.

Peter Bardaglio

TCCPI Coordinator

309 N. Aurora St.,

Ithaca, NY 14850

207-229-6183