Emergency bitcoin miner survey off the table after parties agree to end lawsuit

A government survey to get data on cryptocurrency mining companies' electricity usage has been tabled, according to a court document filed on Friday.

The Department of Energy was sued in a Texas court after the Energy Information Administration — a statistical and analytical agency within the department  — announced in February that it would begin surveying crypto mining firms following an "emergency collection of data request." The Texas Blockchain Council and bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms then sued the Department of Energy last week and said the survey was a product of "sloppy government process." 

The parties involved in the lawsuit said they came to an agreement, according to a notice filed on Friday. As part of that agreement, EIA has to "destroy any information" it received already and withdraw the survey. The EIA will post a new notice on the survey, which will allow for public comments, according to the filing. 

The EIA said it hoped to work with crypto mining companies in the future, in an emailed statement to The Block. 

"We’re hopeful we can work with companies in the cryptocurrency mining industry to provide the American public with a clear understanding of energy use from cryptocurrency mining operations in the United States, much in the same way we do with other industries," the EIA said. 

The Texas Blockchain Council and Riot Platforms applauded the end of the emergency survey in a statement released on Friday.

“The administration engaged in a targeted misuse of government emergency authority to attack a legitimate industry for political purposes,” said TCE President Lee Bratcher, in the statement. “The government demanding—and promising to publish—sensitive business information, in the face of criminal penalties, is a threat to free enterprise everywhere. We are glad to now have an enforceable order that prevents them from doing so.”

A victory for crypto

The Chamber of Digital Commerce called Friday's agreement a "monumental victory" for crypto mining. 

"Today marks a significant triumph for the cryptocurrency mining sector as the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has retracted its emergency survey targeting cryptocurrency miners," the group said in a statement. 

Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who had previously written to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget over concerns about the OMB's use of its emergency approval authority, also cheered the news. 

"The OMB cannot abuse its 'emergency' authorities to allow agencies like the EIA to ridiculously claim bitcoin miners are a threat to public safety and subject this industry to new, unvetted rules and regulations," Emmer said on X on Friday. 

Concerns over environmental harm

The Sierra Club, one of the nation's largest grassroots environmental organizations, filed an amicus brief in support of the Department of Energy on Wednesday. 

In a statement, Holly Bender, the Sierra Club's Chief Energy Officer, compared the energy usage of crypto mining to that required for lighting every home in the U.S., and said it generates more pollution than seven million cars. Bender also referenced the severe winter and ice storm that struck Texas in February 2021, underscoring the potential impacts of high energy consumption during extreme weather events.

“Their operations in Texas and across the country are driving higher energy prices and threatening grid reliability," Bender said in the statement. "Following the devastating impact of Winter Storm Uri, which led to hundreds of deaths in Texas due to power failures, it's particularly reprehensible for Texan cryptocurrency miners to obstruct basic efforts to gather essential data energy regulators need to deliver reliable, affordable power.”

Updated at 4:55 p.m. ET to include statements from EIA and TBC