Bitcoin mining operation in Finger Lakes sparks local concerns

A gas-fired power plant being used to support a Bitcoin mining operation in upstate New York has divided local residents over the environmental toll of the energy-intensive process versus the economic benefits the business brings to town.

Locals who have protested the operations of the plant, which is on the shores of Seneca Lake, have expressed concern that it’s polluting the air and heating the lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes, NBC News reported. “The lake is so warm you feel like you’re in a hot tub,” Abi Buddington, a resident of Dresden, New York, whose home is near the plant, told NBC.