{"id":7380,"date":"2021-08-08T12:05:12","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T11:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/?p=7380"},"modified":"2021-08-08T12:05:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-08T11:05:24","slug":"town-of-massena-has-agreed-to-a-90-day-restriction-on-bitcoin-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/town-of-massena-has-agreed-to-a-90-day-restriction-on-bitcoin-mining\/","title":{"rendered":"Town of Massena has agreed to a 90-day restriction on bitcoin mining"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
After a 90-day moratorium was put in place by the Massena Town Council on Bitcoin mining, certain present operations expressed fear that the restriction might also affect them.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cI had received some correspondence from a representative of the North Country Data Cente\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/g>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/clipPath>\r\n <\/defs><\/svg><\/span><\/a>r, who indicated they had a little bit of concern about the language of the moratorium because it seemed to ban all cryptocurrency mining, not just ones going forward, but those that are currently existing,\u201d Town Attorney Eric Gustafson stated during Wednesday's public hearing on the proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law notes that the town \u201cdesires to enact a moratorium on all cryptocurrency <\/a>mining operations (as defined herein) operating within the town.\u201d The moratorium is set to expire on Nov. 30 unless it\u2019s extended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe moratorium is a pretty straightforward procedure. The language is relatively clear. The idea is that we place a moratorium on any further cryptocurrency mining development while we get some regulations in place that will govern those types of facilities. The planning board had indicated, and I agreed that the code lacked any real regulatory scheme for these types of facilities within the town,\u201d Mr. Gustafson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he believed the law was \u201cpretty clear that this is similar to a zoning regulation and the uses that are already there, that have already started wouldn\u2019t be affected by the moratorium. I think the law on that is pretty clear. So I\u2019m happy with the language the way it\u2019s in front of you and I think that will give us a little bit of breathing space so we can get appropriate regulations for the town of Massena,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said they were receiving more inquiries about cryptocurrency mining <\/a>operations, \u201cso I think this is a good time to tackle this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Gustafson said he hopes a committee of the board would assist him in drafting the regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can pull together some resources for the board to consider some other regulations that are out there. But I caution the board that this is a little bit of new territory. There\u2019s not a lot of great examples of work out there that\u2019s been done previously. So we\u2019re in a little bit of, I don\u2019t want to say uncharted territory, but it\u2019s a little bit unique,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel C. Ramsey, an attorney with Snider and Smith, LLP, was among those who had concerns about the language. He represents a New Mexico company, Mission Peak Computing, which closed last week on a 25-acre piece of property on the Haverstock Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir intent is to construct a high-capacity computing center that is scheduled to begin operation in February of 2022. I understand the moratorium as proposed is not going to affect their timetable for beginning operations. But being familiar with municipal law practice in some capacity, there are times when these moratoriums get extended as there are concerns from environmental groups or regulatory agencies that have to get incorporated into new regulations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Ramsey said Mission Peak was not opposing the moratorium, but was asking two things from the board \u2014 to move as swiftly as possible in crafting the regulations, \u201cand number two, that whatever language is put into these regulations is not so heavy-handed as to prohibit or disincentivize legitimate business interests and crypto operations coming to the area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he understood the reasoning behind the moratorium was to draft regulations that would address the placement of shipping containers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really not what Mission Peak is trying to do. This is a substantial investment they\u2019ve made. They intend to hire several local people to create a little bit of economic development in the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Javid Afzali, an attorney with Harris Beach, PLLC was on hand to represent North Country Data Center, which began operating at the former Alcoa East facility in 2018. He was accompanied by officials from the company, including the operations manager, human resources manager, facility director and Chief Operating Officer Norbert Guiol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Afzali said the company currently employs 64 individuals, but the plan was to employ another 50 full-time employees by the end of the year. Once their build-out is complete in about two to three years, a move that\u2019s already been approved by town officials, they hope to employ about 245 individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said North Country Data Center fully supports the moratorium to \u201cput a stop or at least a pause on future growth development until well-thought-out, well-reasoned regulations can be put into place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere we have the small issue is really in the language. If you look at the language in both the first preamble of the local law as well as the first operative clause, what it says is that the town board of the town of Massena desires to enact a moratorium on all cryptocurrency mining operations. A good argument can be made as well if you\u2019ve put a moratorium on all cryptocurrency mining operations, NCDC has to stop. I know that\u2019s not the intent as what the town attorney mentioned, but that\u2019s what the language is going to read that creates uncertainty with our business and folks who are already operating,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He suggested the board make some revisions to the language that don\u2019t put a moratorium on Bitcoin <\/a>operations, but, as other municipalities have done, put a moratorium on public officials, planning board and zoning boards from reviewing or taking applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat that really does is it puts a stop on future development because those operations that are not yet permitted can\u2019t get permitted because they can\u2019t be reviewed. What it does is it keeps those folks who are permitted safe from that language. If the intent is to stop the signing of future development until regulations are put in place, we\u2019re requesting that the language and local law be cleaned up so that\u2019s very clear and so that doesn\u2019t cause us any uncertainty in the future,\u201d Mr. Afzali said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Gustafson said he believed the language he proposed would cover that uncertainty. He questioned if the town would be violating the terms and conditions of the moratorium if they received an application and opened the packet under the proposed changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any way under the current moratorium that we would be able to slow down and stop their operations. I just don\u2019t think that\u2019s authorized by the law,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a practical matter, I did take a look at the proposed language that they had suggested. I just don\u2019t particularly love it. It places an onus on public officials that I don\u2019t think is appropriate. To me, it\u2019s a non-issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Town Supervisor Steven D. O\u2019Shaughnessy agreed with Mr. Gustafson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that the language that we have here is simple and short and to the point,\u201d he said, suggesting board members adopt the local law, which they did unanimously.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a 90-day moratorium was put in place by the Massena Town Council on Bitcoin mining, certain present operations expressed fear that the restriction might also affect them. \u201cI had received some correspondence from a representative of the North Country Data Cente r, who indicated they had a little bit of concern about the language […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":7381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,21],"tags":[152,1744,370],"class_list":["post-7380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bitcoin-news","category-news","tag-bitcoin","tag-massena","tag-mining"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-75.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}