Crypto mines arise in Campbell County and neighbors have questions

GILLETTE — Gary and Darva Rye looked out their window to a surprise Thursday morning.

On days when the sky is clear, they have a full view of the Big Horn Mountains situated more than 70 miles from their home on Bell Road, just south of Gillette.

But when they looked out toward Highway 50 last week, it wasn’t the mountains that grabbed their attention.

That morning, construction began on a 5200 square-foot cryptocurrency mine, one of at least two crypto mines currently being built in Campbell County.

The mine sits close to Highway 50 south of Bell Road and next to the bone pile electricity substation, on property owned by Powder River Energy Corp. In its current state, it resembles a crop of orange storage containers stacked two-high on a dirt patch.

Although PRECorp owns the roughly five-acre parcel, it’s unclear who owns and plans to operate the mine itself.

A spokesperson for Powder River Energy declined to identify who is leasing the land and building the mine.

“PRECorp owns the property and is leasing a portion of it to a member,” said Tim Velder with PRECorp.

The company also owns land at 569 Breene Road, more than 30 miles south of Gillette off Highway 59, where another crypto mine is further along in construction.

A commercial building permit for the Breene Road crypto mine was issued to Powder River Construction on April 4, said Angie Siegel, administrative coordinator for Campbell County’s public works department.

“That one’s almost final,” she said.

Powder River Construction received its county permit for the Highway 50 crypto mine June 5, a few days before a number of semi-trucks hauling the mine infrastructure appeared at the site near the Ryes’ home.

For the Ryes, it’s unclear how the crypto mine will impact them and others who rely on the substation for power, as well as the wildlife that frequents the pasture behind their home.

“They’re allowing them to put it there because they suck a ton of electricity,” Gary said of the crypto mine. “It’s a ready source there. I’m wondering what’s it going to do the first time they power up and we start browning out up here, or lose our power?”

What is it?

Crypto mining involves networks of specialized high-powered computers, often housed and operated in storage-like containers like the ones seen on Highway 50, and large amounts of electricity, hence the direct access to the electricity substation.

Bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies use this form of mining to create new coins and verify transactions on blockchain networks, which act as virtual ledgers to note and track cryptocurrency transactions, according to Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange.

Those computer networks throughout the world verify and secure the blockchains while computing, or guessing, trillions of number combinations hoping to land on ones that award the crypto miner with a predetermined number of new coins.

Over the past month, Bitcoin’s value fluctuated between a low of about $25,000 and high of about $28,400 per coin, according to Coinbase. Its value peaked at higher than $68,000 per coin in November 2021.

According to New York Times reporting from April on 34 Bitcoin mines throughout the U.S., energy consumption varied from 38 megawatts to 240 megawatts on the high end. The largest mine in that group generated 450 megawatts.

It’s unclear how much energy the new mines in Campbell County will consume or what cryptocurrency they’re mining for.

“Definitely energy reliability is a consideration and making sure we can meet the load requests of our members is top priority without affecting our existing members,” Velder said. “That’s one of the things that was considered in this.”

‘Wait and see’

Chris Land owns property beside the Ryes with a view similar to theirs.

“I don’t like it,” he said of the crypto mine. “I put my house where I put it so I had a view of the Big Horns, now that’s what I see.”

He has a number of horses at his property and said he was assured by people he spoke with at PRECorp that the crypto mines would not affect his animals.

“We’ll wait and see,” he said.

He and the Ryes shared concerns that the humming from the computers and fans may be loud enough to spook animals, including the antelope and various birds that pass through the pasture.

“That is a main wildlife thoroughfare right there,” Darva said.

Land said that in addition to the eyesore, he’s worried the mine’s presence has devalued his land.

“My acreage on that side of the highway is worthless now,” he said. “It really hurt my property values.”

They also would like to have been made aware of the project sooner, and without stumbling upon the news of it themselves.

“I’m not anti-progress, but at least they could have gave us a heads up,” Gary said.

Darva said she was upset at the prospect of the new mine and Gary said he’s waiting to see what impact it has.

“We don’t know yet, because we don’t know what it’s gonna entail,” he added. “If there’s going to be a constant racket or what.”