The Pierce County Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday morning to recommend denying a conditional use permit for a bitcoin mining operation at 1199 Cason Road, Blackshear.
The recommendation will now be forwarded to the county commission for a final decision. The county commission will consider the issue at its regular meeting set for Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Southeast Georgia Regional Agriculture Center (formerly the NFC Building), 705 College Avenue, Blackshear. The meeting is being delayed a week due to a scheduling conflict. A public notice will be published prior to the meeting.
An overflow crowd packed in to the courtroom of the courthouse annex on Nichols Street to express their opposition to the conditional use permit.
LN Energy, a digital currency mining operation, has applied for a conditional use permit on Cason Road in the Rehobeth Church Community.
The property is currently zoned as agriculture/ forestry. The conditional use would apply to converting the property to the digital mining operation.
A digital mining operation is part of the cryptocurrency industry. Cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, is a unit of money that is totally electronic and not backed up by government or banks. Digital currency uses a process called mining to secure its network and validate transactions.
Pierce County does not have any digital mining facilities currently.
Tony Waters, owner of the property of the proposed bitcoin operation, told the planning commission and those present that the bitcoin operation would not harm Pierce County.
Waters said the Pierce County operation will include storage facilities to house servers and will include a chiller supplied by a well on the property for cooling purposes.
Addressing concerns about noise from the facility, Waters said the chiller would be much quieter than fans used to cool other bitcoin facilities.
“It is on my own property. I am a veteran and I served this country for 34 years. Not one person contacted me about concerns until everyone showed up here this morning. This is ridiculous. I didn’t fight for my country for this,” Waters said.
Jim Tucker with Satilla Rural Electric Membership Corporation (REMC) said the bitcoin mining operation would use massive amounts of electricity, estimating the power bill for the facility would be approximately $6 million per year. He assured those present Satilla REMC had more than enough capacity and capability to serve the community as well as the bit coin mining operation. He said the bitcoin mining operation would be required to go off line if Satilla experienced peak loads such as with winter weather or a heat wave. Tucker said Satilla REMC did not take a position on whether to approve the conditional use permit, calling it a local decision.
Tax assessor Bill Rozier said he did not know exactly how to assess a bitcoing mining operation, but in talking with counties that had one, he said one such facility had assets of $60 million. Based on Pierce County’s current assessments and tax rates, that would generate about $500,000 in local taxes.
Brandon Yeomans, a lifelong resident of the Cason-Rehobeth Community near the site of the proposed operation, was the spokesman for the opposition.
Yeomans asked why work has been done on the bitcoin mining operation before the issue was voted on by the planning commission or the county commission. Officials confirmed a stop work order was issued Nov. 9, but storage units were placed and holes were covered after that time. Concrete pads and other infrastructure were put in place prior to the stop work order.
County Manager Raphel Maddox said the storage units had already been ordered and holes were filled in for safety precautions, but he stressed the mining operation has not gone online or been approved.
Planning Commission Member Zach Lee read a portion of the county’s code on conditional use permits pointing out such permits are only allowed “after consideration and vote by the planning commission and county commission”.
Mark Deal, a former member of the planning commission, pointed out the county had not followed its own policy and procedure on the conditional use permit.
After Yeomans, 13 other speakers came to express opposition to the conditional use permit, citing concerns over the noise pollution, electrical power, internet service, environmental and health concerns and the fact the county did not follow its own policy on conditional use permits.
Residents Andy Mattox and Tommy Melton said they were not necessarily opposed to bitcoin mining operations, but both said such operations should be located in the industrial park, away from residential areas.
Bill Cason said the potential to hinder the spread of the Gospel was a concern to him, since the mining operation would be located next to Rehobeth Baptist Church. Many in the audience said “Amen!” after Cason’s remarks. Gene Bowen also expressed his opposition to having the facility located so close to the church.
After receiving public comment for almost an hour, Lee made the motion to deny the permit and commission member Michelle Peagler seconded. The motion to approve recommending denial of the conditional use permit was unanimous.
