A Carbon County Environmental group is suing a bitcoin mining business and state agencies for allowing the plant to pollute the area with its practices.

Last week, Save Carbon County held a meeting at the Nesquehoning Recreation Center to discuss its suit against Panther Creek Power Plant in Nesquehoning. The suit also names the state and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The lawsuit claims that Pennsylvania has failed the Carbon County region by permitting the burning of shredded tires in the waste coal burning operations at the facility, located on the west end of the borough. The company, owned by Bitfarms, burns waste coal to help create power in its bitcoin mining operations.

The meeting, which was attended by a handful of area residents and Save Carbon County members, went over the company’s plans, which also include increasing its operations with a new data center. Bitfarms recently acquired Panther Creek Power Plant as part of an acquisition of Stronghold Digitial Mining, which was completed earlier this year. Since then, the Canada-based company has been working to increase bitcoin mining operations, with plans to open a data center at the plant site featuring High Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence. The data center will use these new techniques to assist in the crypto-mining operation.

In May, DEP also approved a permit for the company to use shredded tires in its waste coal burning operations, and Save Carbon County has rallied against it due to pollutants and other carcinogenics being released into the air by the practice.

Linda Christman, president of Save Carbon County, said that if Panther Creek’s operations increase, the new data center will need to use a significant amount of electricity, as well as upward of 500,000 gallons of water for the cooling process for the computers that work round-the-clock.

“If they do this right, they will be able to recycle about 90% of that water,” she said, but it also means an initial 500,000 gallon withdrawal from the area’s water sources with additional 50,000 gallons a day after that. “The plant will also be drawing energy from the grid in competition with other businesses and residents which will inevitably contribute to an increase in electric rates.”

Attorney Zachary Feinberg of Freiwald Law of Philadelphia was also on hand to discuss the lawsuit brought by Save Carbon County.

“It’s not only that the state is allowing the Panther Creek Facility to burn waste coal and tires for bitcoin mining, they are actually incentivizing this company to do so,” Feinberg said. “They’re giving them energy credits. They’re giving them financial incentives and they’re giving them straight tax credits.”

He added that in addition to several environmental concerns that Save Carbon County has, this operation is causing local residents problems, from noise from the plant and the trucks coming to and from with material to burn.

“The police they’re creating with the emissions ... that’s all negatively impacting the neighbors in the community surrounding the facility.”

Save Carbon County is now asking any Nesquehoning residents who smell burning tires or other smells coming from the facility to file a complaint with DEP at 866-255-5158 and also follow-up with the group regarding the complaint by calling 570-676-2644.