Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Coal country politicians boost crypto waste even as market crashes
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Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Sen. Cythina Lummis. Photo: Gage Skidmore ([link removed]) , CC-BY-SA-2.0 ([link removed])
Members of Congress from coal country are trying to boost a declining industry by pushing cryptocurrency and wasteful energy production, even as crypto prices crash ([link removed]) . E&E News reporters Jael Holzman and Emma Dumain look at the claims being made by crypto supporters ([link removed]) from both parties.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who made a large Bitcoin purchase in 2021, is planning to introduce a bill ([link removed]) directing how the Securities and Exchange Commission should regulate the crypto market. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear last year signed a law giving crypto mining an alternative energy tax break ([link removed]) with an explicit goal of making the state "a national leader in emerging industries which use substantial amounts of energy."
While some crypto miners have made pledges to shift to renewable energy, it hasn't happened yet. Estimates put the total carbon footprint ([link removed]) of Bitcoin alone at 97 million tons of CO[2], equivalent to the carbon footprint of the country of Kuwait. A single Bitcoin transaction requires more electricity than an average U.S. home uses in 75 days.
** Luke Runyon's Colorado River road trip
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2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the Colorado River Compact, an agreement between seven states that determines how the river's water is shared and used. In the latest episode of CWP's podcast, The Landscape ([link removed]) , we talk to former KUNC reporter Luke Runyon about his 1,400 mile trip following the length of the river, from a cattle ranch in western Colorado to the Fort Yuma-Quechan Reservation in Southeastern Arizona.
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Clarification: Monday's Look West stated that orphaned coal-bed methane wells ([link removed]) in Wyoming were left behind for taxpayers to clean up. The funds for cleaning up those wells come primarily from a variable tax on current oil and gas producers ([link removed]) which has dropped as low as zero ([link removed]) in recent years.
Quick hits
** Feds assemble team to help Wyoming coal communities after getting shut out of grant proposals
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Wyofile ([link removed])
** Colorado oil and gas companies use "trade secrets" to hide forever chemicals used in fracking
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9News ([link removed])
** Tribal nations are locked inside the U.S. water regime
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High Country News ([link removed])
** NPS employees face a housing crunch as prices soar
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E&E News ([link removed])
** Podcast: Luke Runyon's Colorado River reporting trip
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The Landscape ([link removed])
** Senate committee delays hearing on Interior nominee Laura Daniel-Davis
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E&E News ([link removed])
** Opinion: How to build wildfire-resistant communities on the wildland fringe
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The Conversation ([link removed])
** Comment period closing soon as BLM eyes new sage-grouse rules
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Mountain West News Bureau ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” The data shows that cryptomining can have harmful impacts on local residents, including higher electricity costs, increased pollution, and weaker energy grids. Lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure that cryptomining does not harm vulnerable communities and exacerbate the climate crisis.”
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren, E&E News ([link removed])
Picture this
** @usfws ([link removed])
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Bald eagle takes a stretch break between salmon hunts in snowy northern Idaho earlier this winter 🦅❄
Every winter, migrating bald eagles arrive at Lake Coeur d'Alene to feed on spawning kokanee salmon. On a survey conducted Dec. 14, more than 110 bald eagles were counted at the lake, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
USFWS photo: Kennith King
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