Indeed, a group of 23 U.S. legislators, led by a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Jared Huffman, have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to analyze whether crypto mining firms were adhering to the country’s environmental protection laws. Specifically, they voiced their “serious concerns” in a letter addressed to EPA Administrator Michael Regan on April 20, including those that crypto mining companies in the U.S. might be operating without compliance with the laws such as the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act.
Concerns over crypto mining
According to the letter, the signatories are concerned worried that the “cryptocurrency mining is poisoning our communities” and that: In particular, they are concerned about “the inherently energy-inefficient “Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining technology to validate transactions,” used by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Monero (XMR), and Zcash (ZEC).
What do they suggest?
In order to resolve this perceived problem, the letter signatories, one of whom is progressive politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, believe that: Therefore: Furthermore, they suggested that:
PoW vs. PoS
Elsewhere, legislators around the world are starting to focus more on the potential environmental impact of PoW mining and begin to explore the use of the PoS mechanism instead. In mid-March, Finbold reported on the ban that the European Union Parliament was considering that would force cryptocurrencies running under the PoW mechanisms to shift to more environmentally friendly mechanisms, such as PoS. However, the members voted against it. That said, some networks are working hard to make the switch from the PoW to the PoS. One of them is Ethereum, which has announced its Merge update for later this year, enabling it to officially move to the PoS mechanism.
