Oil spill at cryptocurrency mining facility sparks water safety concerns near Seneca Lake
Torrey, N.Y. (WHAM) — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation reports an oil spill occurred June 17 at Greenridge’s bitcoin mining operation in Yates County.
“My concern level is very high because I’m a few hundred yards away from the power plant,” said John Lanni, who lives on the shore of Seneca Lake.
“The plant,” referred to by Lanni, is Greenridge Generation, a former coal power plant just outside the village of Dresden that now operates as a bitcoin mining facility.
BACKGROUND: Former coal power plant on Seneca Lake being used for mining cryptocurrency | EPA moves to crack down on dangerous coal ash storage ponds | Permit decision for bitcoin mining operation delayed again | Bitcoin mining moratorium battle plays out on the shores of Seneca Lake | DEC denies air permit renewal for bitcoin mining operation
Some neighbors are concerned about the impact on their drinking water.
“Your water system has to be built to handle this,” said Lanni. “This is filtration, this is UV disinfection, and after a while, those things wear out. Right now, just this week, we invested nearly $4,800 in a brand-new system because we have nothing else to rely upon.”
Lanni is among those who are advocating for public water, which they argue would provide consistent purity.
“Everybody who takes water out of this lake has a different quality standard,” Lanni argued. “If you can afford better, you do better. If you can’t afford better, you don’t get better, so it’s an uneven distribution of how people actually consume water when it’s the sole source.”
“When there’s a HAB (harmful algae bloom) outbreak, you can’t even take a shower,” said neighbor Gary McIntee. “You’re risking your health, so that’s why I keep advocating for safe water and some transparency from Greenridge when there’s an issue like what happened recently.”
The DEC said a mixture of oil and water spilled from a turbine at the former power plant, and drained into a nearby marsh through a state-permitted drainage system. The agency said first responders prevented the spill from reaching the lake.
“There are some people who saw odd foam on the lake,” said McIntee. “We were associating it possibly with the spill. We don’t know for sure if it was associated with the spill, but let us know. We draw our water from here.”
While the composition of the foam in the photo is unclear, the DEC said some algal growth was seen at the site of the spill. There was reportedly no evidence of oil in the water.
The news had Lanni and McIntee advocating for greater oversight of the company’s operations and more transparency.
“I think that the oversight from the DEC could certainly be a bit better,” said Lanni. “I think that there are contaminants that get in the lake. I mean, it’s getting toward the summer season. People are in the lake, animals are in the lake.”
The DEC said Greenridge indicated it would be making modifications to its facilities to prevent discharge from reaching its drains and would provide a report to the agency at some point in the future.
Greenridge has not responded to 13WHAM’s requests for comment.
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