US lawmakers have expressed their intention to reintroduce a bill that would require crypto mining companies to disclose emissions data for operations that use more than five megawatts of electrical power.
On Friday, United States Senator Edward Markey and Representative Jared Huffman revealed Congress intends to reintroduce the Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act to promote greater transparency around crypto mining and its environmental impacts.
bill was put forward at the beginning During the last session of Congress in December 2020, Sen. Jeff Merkle served as its co-sponsor in the Senate.
More specifically, the bill would require crypto mining companies to disclose emissions for operations that consume more than 5 megawatts of electricity or “multiple crypto-asset mining facilities owned by the same company and each near has an electrical load of less than 5 MW.; but has a cumulative electrical load that is greater than or equal to 5 MW.”
Furthermore, the bill would require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lead an interagency investigation into the impact of crypto mining in the United States. That inquiry would have a budget of $5 million and its findings would be published within 18 months of the bill’s passage.
In a press release, Senator Markey listed 16 public organizations that support the bill, including groups such as the Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, Food & Water Watch, and the National Stop Crypto Coalition. He said in a comment:
“While we are working together as a nation to confront an existential crisis that threatens the health and safety of our people and our planet, crypto miners suck megawatt after megawatt from our public grid. And emitting skyrocketing greenhouse gases, just so they can make money for themselves.”
Markey will soon chair a meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety. The meeting will focus on “the urgent need to crack down on the growing environmental impacts of cryptomining,” he said.
US crypto crackdown intensifies
The new bill seeking to bring in regulations for crypto mining comes as US lawmakers recently ramped up efforts to regulate the crypto industry in the wake of some high-profile failures last year.
The SEC, in particular, has been cracking down on crypto companies. In early February, the agency Signed an agreement with crypto exchange Kraken To stop offering staking services or programs to customers in the country and pay a fine of $30 million.
In addition the commission has Paxos threatened, a US-registered firm that issues Binance’s stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), with legal action due to the issuance of BUSD tokens. The agency argued that BUSD is considered an unregistered security.
There have also been global efforts to introduce a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework. As mentioned, the International Monetary Fund and the United States have showed support For India’s plan to coordinate global crypto regulation during the recent G20 meeting.