Democrat Anna Kelles introduced the bill in the New York State assembly. A committee had voted to advance the bill before it was given a thumbs up.
A provision in the bill also bans renewals for existing facilities using non-renewable sources of energy for their daily heavy energy-consuming mining activities.
The bill shall impose a moratorium period of two years for new crypto miners that utilize non-renewable energy. An adjacent bill is on its way through the state senate. However, the crypto community was happy with the bill as some predicted that this might push miners out of the country and therefore affect the jobs of US citizens.
Those advocating the bill were quick to respond to the allegations by saying that existing facilities that use non-renewable sources of energy will remain unaffected by the bill (a moratorium is given as said earlier).
As per the bill, the New York Department of Energy will not give permits to those crypto mining facilities which use —
An electric generating facility that uses a carbon-based fuel and that provides, in whole or in part, behind-the-meter electric energy consumed or utilized by cryptocurrency mining operations that use proof-of-work authentication methods to validate blockchain transactions.
The bill also dictates the state to create a “generic environmental impact statement” which would evaluate mining facilities in the state.