After a wave of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) mining operations set up in areas with affordable electricity, places like Montana’s Missoula County needed to make a decision over the impact these operations have on the region.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)’s (BTC) energy footprint had nearly doubled in six months and was expected to grow. According to the study, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) could be using up approximately 0.5% of the world’s energy by the end of the year, almost the same amount used by the NETHerlands.
Needless to say, most people might not want that to happen.
On Thursday, the Missoula County Commission decided to delay its decision over the suspension of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) mining to August 2018, according to the local news site the Missoulian.
The hearing lasted nearly two hours where presentations and comments from the public were made on the topic of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) mining operations.
Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss had said at the end of the hearing that “we all understand that we don’t understand,” while County Commissioner Cola Rowley noted that this could be a good time for “education and outreach.”
The county fears that the energy consumed by these operations could “pose a reliability and safety risk to local electric distribution systems, and affect electric rates for other customers” and that “the high energy loads could pose a fire hazard, and create elecTron (available on Binance)ic waste.”
If approved, the decision would impose a one-year ban on Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) mining and any new or expanding cryptocurrency activity.