February, 02 2023, 01:56pm EDT

Bitcoin miner ‘greenwashing’: Claims that nuclear-powered crypto operation is clean energy
As cryptocurrencies struggle with soaring electricity prices that squeeze profits, one major bitcoin mining operation will soon be the first in the U.S. to use nuclear power
, falsely claiming it’s good for the environment.
And other bitcoin miners could soon follow the lead of Cumulus Data
, which has completed construction of the sprawling 300,000 square foot Nautilus Cryptomine, in Northeast Pennsylvania. The 48-megawatt mine plugs directly into the company’s Susquehanna nuclear power station. Cumulus Data is a subsidiary of Baltimore-based Talen Energy.
Even one nuclear-powered bitcoin mine is too many, because it’s a problematic source of electricity. Technically, nuclear produces zero carbon emissions. But it uses massive amounts of water to operate and creates dangerous radioactive waste.
Once the nuclear cryptomine is online, in the first quarter of 2023, Terawulf – one of the biggest bitcoin miners in the U.S. – will be among the earliest to use the data center. The electricity generated from the facility will power the mine's “proof of work” mechanism to crack the codes needed to validate transactions and produce more coins. This process requires enormous amounts of electricity, which is why it requires more power sources.
Bitcoin’s greenwashing claims about going nuclear
Nazar Khan, Terawulf’s co-founder and chief operating officer, told crypto industry publication Blockworks
, “We would love for it [nuclear power] to be the majority. . . . It’s a zero-carbon base-load resource, so in terms of how it fits into what we’re doing, it’s a wonderful resource to have.”
Cumulus Data CEO Alex Hernandez echoed Kahn’s clean energy claims, telling Blockworks, “We look forward to advancing our goal of solving the energy ‘trilemma’ which we define as the rapidly increasing consumer demand for zero-carbon, low-cost, and reliable electricity demand.”
These claims are greenwashing – a positive environmental spin on nuclear. And it’s not just that it creates massive amounts of radioactive waste – since nuclear plants take up vast amounts of fresh water to operate, there’s also the harm they do by catching fish and other aquatic life that are then killed in the power plant’s water-cooling intake pipes.
“Using electricity from a nuclear plant is hardly a benefit to the environment, and bitcoin and its Wall Street apologists like Fidelity and Goldman Sachs know it,” said Alex Formuzis, a spokesperson for Environmental Working Group. “This attempt at greenwashing can’t cover up bitcoin’s long history of relying on dirty sources of electricity for profit.”
A 2007 environmental impact analysis by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
estimated daily water intake of the nuclear plant from the Susquehanna River was more than 58 million gallons per day. As the NRC notes, though nuclear plants do not produce carbon dioxide emissions directly, “the processes for mining and refining uranium ore and making reactor fuel all require large amounts of energy.”
These aging and uneconomical plants are also costly to run and pose potential public health, safety and environmental threats to nearby communities in the event of an accident or terrorist attack.
Nuclear power is not the right answer to the growing carbon-and-climate footprint of bitcoin and its ballooning mining operations that use electricity-intensive proof of work.
Crypto mining alternatives don’t use dirty power
Last year, ethereum – the second largest cryptocurrency – completed its “merge” to the proof of stake consensus mechanism, which uses 99.95 percent less energy. It leaves bitcoin the largest cryptocurrency using the outmoded, high-energy proof of work.
Cryptocurrencies that use proof of stake
, or other energy-efficient methods, to validate transactions do so without using computing power to solve complex puzzles. This avoids the big problem with bitcoin – some miners resurrecting coal-fired power plants and other dirty power sources just to cope with proof of work.
“The decision to connect this mining operation to a nuclear plant is short-sighted at best when other options, like proof of stake, are available,” said Formuzis. “Bitcoin can follow ethereum’s lead and make a code switch that will dramatically lower its electricity use and the high financial burden that comes with it.”
What could this mean for other nuclear plants and bitcoin?
There are 53 nuclear power plants in 28 states that produce roughly 19 percent of the electricity in the U.S. But as more of the nation’s electricity comes from clean, safer and renewable sources like solar and wind, the share of energy coming from fossil fuels like coal and methane gas, as well as nuclear, is declining.
Energy experts expect the share of nuclear power to remain flat and even dip as renewables expand, potentially leaving power companies that operate these reactors in search of a new customer base to keep these facilities running.
The boom-and-bust situation facing crypto in recent months has seen major players go bankrupt and unable to pay their debts. This would normally cause the conservative, highly regulated nuclear industry to steer clear of bitcoin miners as customers. But the new operation powered by the plant in Pennsylvania could also signal a period of deal-making between bitcoin and power companies.
How will the bitcoin mining operation continue running when the Susquehanna nuclear plant is shut down for refueling?
All nuclear power plants must be refueled every 18 to 24 months, during which time they must be offline for a month. Both reactor units at the Susquehanna plant will shut down simultaneously in March for refueling, so the bitcoin mining facility that normally runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, will either switch off or need another source of power.
It is unclear how or whether the bitcoin mining center will operate when both reactors are offline.
The Environmental Working Group is a community 30 million strong, working to protect our environmental health by changing industry standards.
(202) 667-6982LATEST NEWS
Nebraska Women Gets Two Years in Prison After Giving Abortion Pills to Teen Daughter
"In this particular case, here's the audacity: Self-managed abortion is not even a crime in fucking Nebraska," said one rights advocate.
Sep 22, 2023
Amid a wave of right-wing efforts to quash abortion rights across the United States, a Nebraska judge on Friday sentenced Jessica Burgess to two years in prison after helping her teenage daughter end her pregnancy and bury the remains in early 2022.
Police have said that over two years ago, then-17-year-old Celeste Burgess took abortion pills—provided by her mother—at approximately 29 weeks pregnant and gave birth to a stillborn fetus, which the pair burned and buried in Norfolk, Nebraska.
Celeste Burgess was sentenced to 90 days behind bars and released earlier this month. Tanner Barnhill, who pleaded no contest to attempting to conceal a death for helping with the burial, was sentenced to nine months of probation and 40 hours of community service.
Jessica Burgess, who took a plea deal, faced up to five years in prison. She pleaded guilty to providing an abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, tampering with human remains, and false reporting. As Jezebelnoted, the 42-year-old was charged even though the state's 20-week ban that was in effect at the time applied to "licensed abortion providers, not people self-managing their own terminations."
As Rafa Kidvai, director of If/When/How's Repro Legal Defense Fund—which is not representing Jessica Burgess—put it to Jezebel, "In this particular case, here's the audacity: Self-managed abortion is not even a crime in fucking Nebraska."
"None of this is about justice or safety or someone's health or society being better or kinder or safer—this is about control from the state," Kidvai argued. "Everything is a distraction, including conversations around gestational age... They're distracting you constantly by telling you that your individual choices are the problem, not the systems that keep you oppressed."
The Appeal reported Friday that "abortions after 21 weeks rarely occur within the United States, accounting for just 1% of all abortions. It is unclear when Celeste first knew she was pregnant. Police say Celeste, then 17, got an ultrasound showing she was 23 weeks pregnant on March 8, 2022."
"That same month, police say Jessica Burgess ordered abortion pills online. But the medication took about six weeks to arrive," the outlet added. "[Celeste] Burgess stated in court that she wanted to end her pregnancy because she was in an abusive relationship and did not want to share a child with the man who impregnated her."
While Celeste Burgess' stillbirth occurred a couple of months before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion rights advocates have connected the Nebraska mother and daughter's cases to a broader assault on reproductive freedom since the right-wing justices' Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organizationdecision.
Nebraska is among several states that have tightened abortion restrictions since June 2022. In May, Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed a bill banning abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest, and to save the life of the pregnant person—a measure which has taken effect but that rights group are fighting in state court.
The Burgesses' cases have also heightened concerns about digital communications, given that police obtained and Facebook parent company Meta complied with a search warrant for their private messages. Further, there are rising fears that U.S. law enforcement may eventually try to use new laboratory methods allegedly developed by researchers in Poland—which has outlawed most abortions—to detect medication commonly used to end pregnancies in biological specimens.
Across the United States from 2000 to 2020, "at least 61 people were criminally investigated or arrested for ending their own pregnancies or helping someone else do so," according to a report released this month by Pregnancy Justice and other groups. From 2006 to 2020, "more than 1,300 people were arrested in relation to their conduct during pregnancy," including people who experienced miscarriages and stillbirths but were suspected of self-managing abortions.
Emma Roth, senior staff attorney at Pregnancy Justice, told The Appeal that "even if the state's law does not criminalize abortion itself, prosecutors will still seek other creative ways to try to incarcerate, shame, or make a case out of that person."
"Prosecutors will charge anything that they can think of when what they're actually trying to criminalize is what they view as immoral conduct," Roth stressed. With the Burgesses, she said, "the prosecutor's whole case was about shaming somebody for being a young teenager and having an abortion later on in pregnancy. These prosecutions create a culture of fear."
Nebraska is one of multiple U.S. states where reproductive rights advocates are currently working to put a question on 2024 ballots regarding an amendment to the state constitution that would protect the right to abortion.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Biden to 'Join the Picket Line and Stand in Solidarity' With Striking Autoworkers
"This is unprecedented: a sitting president showing up on the picket lines with workers," said Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal.
Sep 22, 2023
In a historic move, U.S. President Joe Biden vowed Friday to travel to Michigan next week and stand with striking United Auto Workers members, an announcement that came just hours after union autoworkers widened their strike to include all U.S. General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution centers.
"Tuesday, I'll go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity with the men and women of UAW as they fight for a fair share of the value they helped create," Biden said on social media. "It's time for a win-win agreement that keeps American auto manufacturing thriving with well-paid UAW jobs."
Last Friday, Biden called on automakers to share more of their windfall with UAW workers, who are seeking better pay and benefits.
"Auto companies have seen record profits... They have not been shared fairly with workers," the president said. "I understand the workers' frustration. Over generations, autoworkers have sacrificed so much to keep the industry alive and strong, especially during the economic crisis and the pandemic."
"The companies have made some significant offers," Biden added. "But I believe they should go further to ensure that record corporate profits mean record contracts for the UAW."
Biden—who is seeking reelection next year—is a self-described "pro-labor president" but his response to the UAW is notably different from last year, when he came under fire for signing legislation to block a nationwide rail strike.
At noon Eastern time this Friday, workers at all 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution facilities across the U.S. walked off the job as the UAW escalated its strike.
"We will shut down parts distribution until those two companies come to their senses and come to the table with a serious offer," UAW president Shawn Fain said in a video update. "The plants that are already on strike will remain on strike."
Fain said Ford was spared the escalation because UAW and company negotiators were making "real progress" at the bargaining table.
While some striking workers said they'd prefer the president didn't join them, others welcomed the solidarity.
"Me personally, I wouldn't mind if Biden stepped up and showed some support," 55-year-old Laura Zielinski of Toledo, Ohio, toldReuters earlier this week, recalling 2010, when he was vice president and visited her city's Stellantis assembly plant.
"Support like that would put a spotlight on the talks—kind of give a nudge to the companies," she added.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said Friday on social media that it was "unprecedented" for a sitting U.S. president to join striking workers on a picket line.
Jeremi Suri, a historian and presidential scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, toldReuters the last time it happened was probably in 1902, when then-President Theodore Roosevelt invited striking coal miners to the White House.
"This would be a major, major shift for Biden to identify the presidency with striking workers," said Suri, "rather than siding with industry or staying above the fray."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Netanyahu Shows Map of 'New Middle East'—Without Palestine—to UN General Assembly
"Netanyahu made clear with his little map today what normalization really seeks: eliminating Palestine... from the region and legitimizing greater Israel, all with the blessing of Arab regimes," one critic said.
Sep 22, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angered Palestinians and their defenders Friday after presenting a map of "The New Middle East" without Palestine during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Speaking to a largely empty chamber, Netanyahu—whose far-right government is widely considered the most extreme in Israeli history—showed a series of maps, including one that did not show the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Gaza. These Palestinian territories have been illegally occupied by Israel since 1967, with the exception of Gaza—from which Israeli forces withdrew in 2005, while maintaining an economic stranglehold over the densely populated coastal strip.
Middle East Eyereported Netanyahu also held up a map of "Israel in 1948"—the year the modern Jewish state was established, largely through the ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Arabs—that erroneously included the Palestinian territories as part of Israel.
Palestinian Ambassador to Germany Laith Arafeh said on social media that there is "no greater insult to every foundational principle of the United Nations than seeing Netanyahu display before the UNGA a 'map of Israel' that straddles the entire land from the river to the sea, negating Palestine and its people, then attempting to spin the audience with rhetoric about 'peace' in the region, all the while entrenching the longest ongoing belligerent occupation in today's world."
As Middle East Eye noted:
The inclusion of Palestinian lands (and sometimes land belonging to Syria and Lebanon) in Israeli maps is common among believers of the concept of Eretz Yisrael—Greater Israel—a key part of ultra-nationalist Zionism that claims all of these lands belong to a Zionist state.
Earlier this year, Netanyahu's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, spoke from a podium adorned with a map that also included Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria as part of Greater Israel. In the same event, he said there was "no such thing as Palestinians."
The use of such maps by Israeli officials comes at a time when Netanyahu's ultra-nationalist government has taken steps that experts say amount to the "de jure annexation" of the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu used the maps in an attempt to illustrate the increasing number of Arab countries normalizing relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords brokered by the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
"There's no question the Abraham Accords heralded the dawn of a new age of peace," the Israeli prime minister said. "But I believe that we are at the cusp of an even more dramatic breakthrough, an historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia will truly create a new Middle East."
Critics have countered that peace between apartheid Israel and Arab dictatorships has come at the cost of advancing Palestinian rights. In the case of Morocco, the United States recognized the North African nation's illegal annexation and brutal occupation of Western Sahara in exchange for normalization with Israel.
Netanyahu's props on Friday reminded numerous observers of the time during his 2012 General Assembly speech when he used a cartoon drawing of a bomb to illustrate Iran's progress on advancing a nuclear weapons program that both U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies said did not exist.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular
Independent, nonprofit journalism needs your help.
Please Pitch In
Today!
Today!