U.S. Senators are again taking a closer look at Bitcoin mining. Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) chaired a session of the Committee on Environment and Public Works yesterday, focusing on the energy usage of mining. The mining industry, Markey said, “deserves the spotlight.” Markey is the sponsor of a bill pushing for more transparency from miners regarding their environmental impact. “It has grown explosively in the United States over the past two years. It is extremely energy-intensive. And we’ve seen it harm the general public while enabling the creation of heavily-concentrated wealth in our country,” he said. He said the full extent of miners’ impact was not known, which is why his bill would require companies to disclose more information about their operations to the environmental regulator. “We need a federal approach just so we have the information out there as to what the climatic impacts are,” he said in his closing statement. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska) argued that mining is not the only industry that relies on large data server banks, and that Washington D.C. should not be allowed to pick “winners and losers.”
Full story : Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining ‘Deserves the Spotlight’: US Senator Markey
