GREENVILLE, NC (WNCT) - The debate about bringing a crypto plant to North Carolina continues and at the center of this is the city and some residents.
Since 2021, the Greenville ENC Alliance has been working on a modular data processing project. The $ 55 million investment would come from a Minnesota company, Compute North.
โIt prepares us to be able to recruit other technical companies to come to Greenville that offer higher paying jobs, more skilled jobs so that we can increase the income base and the tax base here in our community,โ said Unconda Dunn, Vice President President of Business Development for the City of Greenville.
Although city officials are in favor of Compute North coming to Pitt County, residents are resisting.
โIt is data mining and mining means that you take something, in this case energy, and that is a lot and you do not replace it with a tangible product, with jobs, with tax income, or even with a stem center in a school or a clinic medical, or goodwill in the community, โsaid Molly Holdeman, a concerned Pitt County resident.
While the Greenville Alliance said the business would be located in an industrial zone, residents said that doesn't help concerns about noise and power consumption, as well as the possibility of increasing energy bills.
"We will comply with all local ordinances and submit an acoustic study and sound model related to your permit application," Compute North said in a statement.
The Greenville City Council will meet on January 13 to hear citizen concerns and vote on possible zoning changes that would allow for the plant to be built.
