MASSENA – The Town Board is taking another month to review its proposed cryptocurrency mining regulation following a review by the St. Lawrence County Planning Board.
“We still have a little more time with the moratorium. I would suggest waiting another month,” City Attorney Eric J. Gustafson told board members.
The latest moratorium, one of many that have been established, will be in effect until September 30.
After lengthy debate, members of the St. Lawrence County Planning Board voted to conditionally approve the regulation with four recommendations:
• Delete the word only from Section 4.1. b. to eliminate confusion over whether shipping containers can be used as a containment structure;
• Add the phrase Site Plan Review to Section 5.1 or remove the reference to Article XIII of the Massena City Code (Site Plan Review);
• Clarify whether and how the City intends to exempt existing expansions for cryptocurrency mining operations in order to avoid perpetual expansions that would not be reviewable;
• Remove the reference requiring cryptocurrency mining operations that employ shipping containers outside of a building to be subject to this local law, as such use is prohibited under Section 4.1.
They also offered three non-binding recommendations:
• The city is considering creating a local cryptocurrency law that specifies standards based on the size of the operation; the proposed law could apply to smaller-scale operations and could be enacted now, while additional regulations could be developed and added for large projects in the future;
• Define shipping container;
• Paginate local legislation for easier reference.
“The St. Lawrence County Planning Board presented recommendations. You will receive copies of these recommendations. I guess basically, considering the number of people who spoke to the county about this, they only recommended some minor things,” Town Supervisor Susan J. Bellor told town board members.
Gustafson attended the planning board meeting and heard recommendations, "some of which I thought were helpful and some of which I didn't like as much."
“Let's see what we can do with the language. “I didn’t necessarily agree with his plans, but I thought maybe there is a way to make the law a little more streamlined and effective,” he said. "I think there are some opportunities to make some improvements and we are working on that currently."
Bellor noted that one of the county's recommendations concerned smaller units versus larger units.
“I think this is going to create a lot of unnecessary confusion,” Gustafson said. “I didn't like that particular resolution at all. But there are certain issues that were particularly important to the city and certain issues that I think can be covered by other legislation that is already in place. So, I think we have an opportunity to take the draft regulations and simplify them a little bit so that we have something that is coherent and defensible.”
The city has been working with North Country Placement Services to address that company's concerns, which largely have to do with a planned expansion, while also addressing concerns raised by board members about other companies setting up operations unsightly and noisy.
"We support the City of Massena's efforts to adopt cryptocurrency mining regulations that address Massena residents' concerns involving small cryptocurrency mining operators who are causing visual and noise disturbances and who may not be following the rules and applicable safety regulations," said CEO David Fogel. .
Instead, he said, “NCCS is a large company that employs nearly 100 workers and operates in an industrial area with mining operations that do not present any of these same problems. Our operations are conducted within buildings away from residential areas and are conducted safely and in full compliance with regulations.”
He said they hope to “continue to thrive and grow in Massena and support the community through more jobs, taxes and philanthropic support.”