Hildebran restricts crypto mining operations

Hildebran Mayor Wendell Hildebrand settled back in his chair and scanned the growing crowd packed into the town’s meeting room inside the Albert Parkhurst Municipal Complex.

He seemed surprised to see a couple dozen people crowded into the small space, filling nearly every seat.

“We usually have about three people at these,” he remarked with a wry smile as the Monday evening meeting got underway. Turning to the council members beside him on the dais, Hildebrand continued: “And the press is here, so council, be on your best behavior.”

The crowd had come to voice concerns about a New York company’s rumored plans to establish a cryptocurrency mining operation in the quiet country town near Burke County’s eastern border.

It was an unusual town council meeting for Hildebran, and the board faced an unusual task, consideration of an ordinance that would make the controversial industry — which opponents say ushers in a host of problems for residents — cost-prohibitive inside the town’s borders.

After a public hearing which evolved into a semiformal group discussion, followed by a detailed description of the stringent zoning restrictions, the council did exactly that, passing the ordinance unanimously.

DigiPower X, of Tonawanda, N.Y., owns a 19.4-acre property in Hildebran adjacent to the Duke Energy substation. The company’s website and its 2025 corporate overview tout the site as the future home of a 200-megawatt facility that would be used primarily for crypto mining.

The industry, in which computers run 24/7/365 solving complex mathematical formulas in order to earn virtual currency, is known — among other drawbacks — for producing disruptive levels of noise pollution.

“I have not heard one good thing about this crypto-whatever-it-is,” resident Doris Buchanan said. “The racket is so bad that people are moving because they’re putting it close to their homes, ruining their lives.”

Bruce Berry agreed.

“If you’ve done any kind of research on these things, anybody that lives close to them, they’re not happy,” Berry said.

Several others calmly voiced their opposition during the discussion. To a person, their tone was sincere but not overwrought.

The comments prompted council member Jody York to briefly break with protocol.

“We’re (council) not supposed to respond during public comments,” York said. “But we do hear you. We hear you.”

That fact was reflected in the ordinance itself.

The company has not filed for a building permit, submitted a site plan, or contacted the town. But Hildebran isn’t taking any chances.

After her comprehensive presentation on the new ordinance, town planner Katelyn Smith said the rules would protect the populace from unchecked crypto mining.

“I feel everyone’s frustrations and I know where everyone is coming from, and I want everyone to know this language being put into the zoning ordinance is for the welfare of the community,” Smith said. “We don’t want them to come in and have no regulations regarding them.”

Town Manager Logan Shook explained that because of a state law passed last December as part of the sweeping omnibus House Bill 382, counties and municipalities no longer have the authority to prohibit a specific business or industry.

Local governments can, however, place restrictions on certain ones.

“Our hands are kind of tied, and we have to have something on the books,” Shook said.

Chief among Hildebran’s measures is a noise limit of 40 dBA (loudness); and 55 dBC (dBC measures low-frequency sounds like the hums that machines produce) at the property line at all times.

That dBA level is similar to the noise one might encounter in a library — the equivalent of someone whispering from 5 feet away. A level of 55 dBC would be equal to a refrigerator hum or a light rain.

Crypto mining stations typically produce 65-85 dBA, with most of the noise attributable to the fans that run night and day to cool the computers. Some opponents say the fans are much louder than that.

Another hallmark of crypto mining operations is the metal shipping containers or prefabricated metal boxes used to hold the computers. The units are not soundproof and a 200mw site like Hildebran could have as many as 250 of them.

But that won’t happen — language in the ordinance expressly prohibits the structures.

Setbacks — 50 feet from all property lines, 500 feet from residential dwellings, 1,000 feet from sensitive populations like schools and hospitals — are also part of the rules.

In addition, the entire site would have to be surrounded by 20-foot vegetative buffers.

There are other requirements as well, all of them aimed at keeping crypto mining in check if DigiPower’s plans come to fruition.

“I do think that they’re (the rules) stringent,” Smith told the board. “And I do think that it’ll make a company second-guess coming in, and I think it’s good to have this wording as tight as it is.”