‘They say these mines are quieter than crickets – I’d hate to meet that cricket’
Annette Tiveron, resident of Adel, Cook County, Ga.
ADEL, Ga. – For more than 30 years, Annette and Ron Tiveron had the home of their dreams in a quiet part of Adel, in Cook County. They were surrounded by farmland and ponds and enjoyed relaxing on their porch, watching deer and other wildlife pass by.
Then they got an unwelcome neighbor: Blockstream, a bitcoin mining company.
Soon after Blockstream built an unsightly pen of noisy mining rigs and switched them on, the Tiveron’s quality of life plummeted. The constant din from the crypto mining facility has damaged their hearing and kept them captive in their own home, forcing them to install insulation on their windows that still doesn’t seem to keep out the pervasive drone of the mines.
And even with their windows and doors closed, and wearing earplugs, the couple can’t escape – the noise even causes a nearby pond to shimmer and shake.
Nonstop electronic thunder
Sound is measured in decibels, and when the bitcoin mine was operating at full capacity 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the Tiverons routinely recorded noise from the facility at 70 decibels or higher. “Noise above 70 dB [decibels] over a prolonged period of time may start to damage your hearing,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Blockstream facility has reduced its operations with noise in the range of 30 to 40 decibels, in line with the trend of mines slowing down as the price of bitcoin dips.
Under the terms of a 2019 memo of understanding with Adel, Blockstream must keep its noise at or below 60 decibels, measured 500 feet from the mine. But the Tiverons’ home is closer than that. And there’s no escape from the sight of the facility, either: Looking out their windows, they can’t miss the huge mining containers, like oversized grills topped by unsightly fans that create most of the noise.
[They've] spent thousands of dollars putting extra layers of glass on each of their windows and installing 11 layers of insulation around their bedroom wall.
Annette says city officials have given her protests the cold shoulder, even though the Tiverons have attended city meetings and played recordings they took of the mine’s racket. She has claimed officials told her to stop playing the clips at meetings.
The Tiverons’ fight has lasted more than two years; in November 2021 the Wall Street Journal said Blockstream mining head Chris Cook described the mine as “barely audible. . . . Crickets are significantly louder.”
If Cook left Blockstream’s headquarters and visited Adel, he might reconsider his claim.
“They say these mines are quieter than crickets – I’d hate to meet that cricket,” says Annette.
Annette’s humor belies the harm the mining has done to her health. She says her hearing has suffered permanently as a result of the crypto mining din. “The sound is just awful. You have to wear earplugs, and my ears are just terrible now.”
A plea for ‘a peaceful life’
Community organizer Treva Gear, Ph.D., of Georgia’s Concerned Citizens of Cook County, fears Blockstream might attempt to ramp operations back up in the coming months. She says the energy-hogging bitcoin mining is driving up utility rates for hardworking residents nearby.
According to its website, Blockstream shows no signs of slowing down its mining plans. In January 2023, the company announced it had raised $125 million to expand its U.S. bitcoin mining. A close reading of the press release reveals Blockstream omitted one crucial piece of information – where the mining will take place.
Although Blockstream says it is committed to expanding the use of renewable energy for its work, its announcement notably lacks certain key words – “noise” “pollution” and “climate” – that matter to the people most harmed by the negative impacts of mining. There’s no incentive for miners to use renewable power, and they’ll go where electricity is cheapest.
Bitcoin mines can often take communities by surprise with their arrival – and often their sudden departure, if the price isn’t right, leaving the community holding the bag when they do.
Gear urges anyone facing the potential of a proof of work mine in their neighborhood to move early and fast. “When you hear one of these mines are coming, organize,” she says. “They say their mines will bring lots of revenue. Actually, it’s going to disrupt your peace and quiet, and it could potentially change your energy bills, change the presence of the wildlife of your area.”
The huge amounts of electricity bitcoin mines require also contribute to the climate crisis, since they’re powered by a dirty grid or onsite fossil fuels, she warns.
Even though the noise levels dropped at Blockstream’s mine during the bitcoin downturn, Ron and Annette fear a return to full operations and the chaos that would cause.
And even with their windows and doors closed, and wearing earplugs, the couple can’t escape – the noise even causes a nearby pond to shimmer and shake.
Their battle against Blockstream has hurt their finances as well as their health and quality of life. Annette says they’ve spent thousands of dollars putting extra layers of glass on each of their windows and installing 11 layers of insulation around their bedroom wall. “We’ve spent money that we should not have had to spend to try to just live here,” she says.
“This is just a wood-framed house – just a little two-bed, two-bath [house] – but it’s my home, and I take pride in my home,” Annette says, frustration in her voice. The wildlife they once saw are long gone, and she and her husband feel trapped indoors.
These are life-altering changes any community could face with the arrival of a bitcoin mine, but many people might not have the resources even to install insulation.
The arrival of a bitcoin mining facility quite literally in the Tiverons’ backyard has led the couple to become accidental activists. They’re fighting to reclaim the peace and quiet they cherished in the house where they once could live without risking harm to their hearing and well-being. It’s a battle Annette is determined to win.
“I just want to have a peaceful life,” she says.