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A07389 Summary:

A07389 Floor Votes:

A07389 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         7389--C
 
                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                       May 6, 2021
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  KELLES, LUPARDO, ENGLEBRIGHT, THIELE, GLICK,
          MAGNARELLI, EPSTEIN, BURDICK, STECK, J. D. RIVERA, CLARK, NIOU,  FAHY,
          WALLACE,  BARRETT, CARROLL, L. ROSENTHAL, SEAWRIGHT, GALLAGHER, GONZA-
          LEZ-ROJAS, BURKE, STIRPE, MAMDANI, SIMON, GRIFFIN, ANDERSON,  McMAHON,
          MITAYNES, OTIS, McDONALD, GOTTFRIED, GALEF, DINOWITZ, PRETLOW, PAULIN,
          FORREST, ZINERMAN, SILLITTI, ZEBROWSKI, QUART, BURGOS, BICHOTTE HERME-
          LYN,  ABINANTI,  JACOBSON, LAVINE, SAYEGH -- read once and referred to
          the Committee on Banks -- reference changed to the Committee on  Envi-
          ronmental  Conservation -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
          reprinted as amended  and  recommitted  to  said  committee  --  again
          reported  from  said  committee  with amendments, ordered reprinted as
          amended and recommitted  to  said  committee  --  recommitted  to  the
          Committee  on  Environmental  Conservation in accordance with Assembly
          Rule  3,  sec.  2  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
 
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  environmental  conservation law, in relation to
          establishing a moratorium on cryptocurrency mining operations that use
          proof-of-work authentication methods  to  validate  blockchain  trans-
          actions;  and  to require a comprehensive generic environmental impact
          statement review
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.    Legislative  findings. The legislature hereby finds and
     2  declares that:
     3    (a) Climate change threatens the health, welfare, and economy  of  the
     4  state with increasingly severe and widespread impacts to our communities
     5  due  to  flooding,  sea level rise, heat waves, coastal erosion, erratic
     6  and unpredictable weather patterns, shifting  climatic  zones,  loss  of
     7  wildlife,  increased  harmful  algal  blooms  and  invasive species, and
     8  increased risk of disease, in part, which  leads  directly  to  loss  of

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11081-19-2
        A. 7389--C                          2
 
     1  life,  property  damage  and  reduction in value, ecological damage, and
     2  increased infrastructure costs;
     3    (b) It is the policy of the State of New York to conserve, improve and
     4  protect  its natural resources and environment and to prevent, abate and
     5  control water, land and air pollution, in order to enhance  the  health,
     6  safety and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic
     7  and social well-being;
     8    (c)  To mitigate the current and future effects of climate change, the
     9  State of New York  implemented  the  Climate  Leadership  and  Community
    10  Protection  Act,  requiring  that  statewide greenhouse gas emissions be
    11  reduced eighty-five percent by 2050 and that  the  state  has  net  zero
    12  emissions in all sectors of the economy by that time;
    13    (d) Cryptocurrency mining operations running proof-of-work authentica-
    14  tion methods to validate blockchain transactions are an expanding indus-
    15  try in the State of New York; and
    16    (e)  The  continued  and  expanded  operation of cryptocurrency mining
    17  operations running  proof-of-work  authentication  methods  to  validate
    18  blockchain transactions will greatly increase the amount of energy usage
    19  in the state of New York, and impact compliance with the Climate Leader-
    20  ship and Community Protection Act.
    21    §  2.  The  environmental  conservation law is amended by adding a new
    22  section 19-0331 to read as follows:
    23  § 19-0331. Moratorium on air permit issuance and renewal.
    24    1. For the period commencing on the effective date of this section and
    25  ending two years after such date,  the  department,  after  consultation
    26  with  the department of public service, shall not approve a new applica-
    27  tion for or issue a new permit pursuant  to  this  article,  or  article
    28  seventy  of  this  chapter,  for  an  electric  generating facility that
    29  utilizes a carbon-based fuel and that provides, in  whole  or  in  part,
    30  behind-the-meter  electric energy consumed or utilized by cryptocurrency
    31  mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to vali-
    32  date blockchain transactions.
    33    2. For the period commencing on the effective date of  this    section
    34  and  ending  two years after such date, the department shall not approve
    35  an application to renew an existing permit or  issue  a  renewal  permit
    36  pursuant  to  this  article  for  an  electric  generating facility that
    37  utilizes a carbon-based fuel and that provides, in  whole  or  in  part,
    38  behind-the-meter electric energy consumed or utilized by a cryptocurren-
    39  cy  mining  operation  that uses proof-of-work authentication methods to
    40  validate blockchain transactions if the  renewal  application  seeks  to
    41  increase  or  will allow or result in an increase in the amount of elec-
    42  tric energy consumed or utilized by a  cryptocurrency  mining  operation
    43  that  uses  proof-of-work  authentication methods to validate blockchain
    44  transactions.
    45    § 3. Generic environmental impact statement.  (a)  The  department  of
    46  environmental  conservation,  in  consultation  with  the  department of
    47  public service, shall prepare, pursuant to article eight of the environ-
    48  mental conservation law, a generic  environmental  impact  statement  on
    49  cryptocurrency  mining  operations that use proof-of-work authentication
    50  methods to validate blockchain transactions.
    51    (b) The generic environmental impact statement  shall  address,  at  a
    52  minimum:
    53    (i)  the  number  and location of existing cryptocurrency mining oper-
    54  ations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate  block-
    55  chain transactions in the state;
        A. 7389--C                          3
 
     1    (ii)  the  amount  of  electric energy consumed by each cryptocurrency
     2  mining operation that uses proof-of-work authentication methods to vali-
     3  date blockchain transactions;
     4    (iii)  the  sources of electric energy consumed by each cryptocurrency
     5  mining operation that uses proof-of-work authentication methods to vali-
     6  date blockchain transactions and the type of fuel used  by  each  energy
     7  source;
     8    (iv) the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and co-pollutants released
     9  by each energy source attributable to providing electric energy to cryp-
    10  tocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication meth-
    11  ods to validate blockchain transactions;
    12    (v)  the  anticipated increase, if any, of cryptocurrency mining oper-
    13  ations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate  block-
    14  chain  transactions  in the state and the anticipated expansion, if any,
    15  of existing operations;
    16    (vi) the potential impacts of electric energy consumption  by  crypto-
    17  currency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods
    18  to  validate  blockchain transactions on the state's ability to meet the
    19  greenhouse gas emission reduction goals set forth  in  article  seventy-
    20  five of the environmental conservation law;
    21    (vii)  the  amount  of water usage, water quality and other ecological
    22  impacts, if any, of cooling water use  by  cryptocurrency  mining  oper-
    23  ations  that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate block-
    24  chain transactions;
    25    (viii) the potential public health impacts, if any, due to reduced air
    26  and water quality in communities near cryptocurrency  mining  operations
    27  that  use  proof-of-work  authentication  methods to validate blockchain
    28  transactions;
    29    (ix) the potential statewide  public  health  impacts,  if  any,  from
    30  increased  greenhouse  gas  emissions  released by cryptocurrency mining
    31  operations that use proof-of-work  authentication  methods  to  validate
    32  blockchain transactions; and
    33    (x)  the social and economic costs and benefits, if any, of cryptocur-
    34  rency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to
    35  validate blockchain transactions.
    36    § 4. Any generic environmental impact statement draft shall be  posted
    37  on the department of environmental conservation's website and be subject
    38  to  120 days of public comment from the date of issuance. The department
    39  of environmental conservation shall conduct at least one public  hearing
    40  in  each  of  the  following regions of the state: western New York, the
    41  finger lakes, the southern tier, central New York,  the  Mohawk  valley,
    42  the north country, the capital region/Hudson valley, and the City of New
    43  York/Long  Island,  as  defined  by  the Empire State Development Corpo-
    44  ration, and provide meaningful opportunity for comment.
    45    § 5. The department shall issue a final generic  environmental  impact
    46  statement  after  close  of the public comment and public hearing period
    47  and no later than one year after the effective date of this act.
    48    § 6. For the purposes of this act:
    49    (a) "Cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authenti-
    50  cation methods" shall mean the use of a consensus algorithm in a  block-
    51  chain  network  used  to  confirm and produce new blocks to the chain to
    52  validate a cryptocurrency transaction, where  competitors  complete  new
    53  blocks and where the algorithm changes the complexity of the competition
    54  in a manner that is designed to and/or results in increased energy usage
    55  for each competitor when the complexity is increased; and
        A. 7389--C                          4
 
     1    (b) "blockchain" shall mean a digital ledger in which transactions are
     2  recorded chronologically and publicly.
     3    §  7.  This  act  shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
     4  permits or renewal applications filed after such date.