Bitcoin Miner Greenidge Settles New York Permit Dispute, Prompting Stock Spike

Bitcoin miner Greenidge saw its stock pump over 35% on Monday, after the company announced a deal with New York state officials to secure the five-year renewal of a key environmental permit. 

In exchange for the permit, Greenidge has agreed to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, to a degree consistent with New York state’s ambitious climate goals. The company has committed to reducing its permitted emissions by 44% by the year 2030. 

That goal lines up with a landmark New York climate law, passed in 2019, which aims to, by 2030, reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from 1990 levels.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s settlement with Greenidge comes three years after the state regulator declined to renew the crypto miner’s air emissions permit, citing the negative impact of its operations on the environment.

Friday’s deal also ended all litigation between New York state and Greenidge, which sued after being denied another air emissions permit in 2022. 

Upon news of the settlement after market’s close on Friday, Greenidge’s stock (Nasdaq: GREE) surged over 75%. The stock has since fallen off a bit, but is still up over 37% since Friday afternoon, to $2.08 at writing.

Greenidge operates a natural gas power plant in Dresden, New York that powers a Bitcoin mining operation and also provides electricity to the state power grid. 

A local union representing workers at the Dresden plant celebrated Friday’s settlement as a win-win for workers and environmentalists. 

“By reaching a tough new permit deal, the State of New York is standing up for working-class families,” Roman Cefali, business manager of the IBEW Local Union 10, said in a statement shared with Decrypt. “I would like to thank Governor [Kathy] Hochul and her staff for their hard work protecting good-paying union jobs and achieving real, tangible environmental progress at the same time.”

The toll of proof-of-work digital asset mining on New York’s power grid has long been a contentious issue in one of America’s most economically crucial and crypto-skeptical states. 

Last month, a group of New York lawmakers introduced a bill that would tax proof-of-work crypto miners like Greenidge for their electricity consumption. Proceeds from the taxes would fund a statewide energy affordability program for lower-income households.