Texas town residents sue Marathon Digital over crypto mine noise
2024-10-08

Over two dozen residents in the town of Granbury, Texas, filed a lawsuit against crypto miner Marathon Digital claiming its mining site near the town is “intolerably loud.”
The noise from Marathon’s local Bitcoin BTCUSD mining facility is a “nuisance” causing “extreme discomfort and annoyance” to those living close to the mine, the group claimed in the Oct. 4 suit filed in a Hood County Court 
The group claimed some residents have suffered “sensory, emotional, psychological, and health impacts” due to “constant, unrelenting” noise and vibrations from Marathon’s site.
Some locals have experienced fatigue, headaches, memory issues, hearing loss, migraines and tinnitus. The group alleged pre-existing health conditions, such as high blood pressure, have worsened for some residents as well. 
“Even in their own homes, [residents] can hear the MARA Cryptomine’s noise and feel its vibrations,” the suit claimed. It adds Marathon’s site “substantially interferes with Plaintiff Members’ private use and enjoyment of their properties.”
The group also alleged that the mining operation’s energy usage has resulted in “increases in their electricity bills and decreases in their property values.”
Rodrigo Cantú, a senior attorney with nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice, who is representing the residents, said in an Oct. 7 statement his clients want Marathon to take “immediate action to effectively mitigate their noise pollution or shut down operations altogether.” 
Marathon Digital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The residents are asking the court for a permanent injunction against Marathon’s facility to prevent it from “creating, causing, or allowing any unreasonable noise.” 
They’re also asking for any compensation that “may be justly entitled” and court costs.
Marathon’s Granbury Bitcoin mine was built in April 2022 by the original owner, Compute North Holdings, and is located alongside a gas-fired power plant called Wolf Hollow II. 
It has changed ownership several times, with Marathon taking over the lease in January. Rival miner Hut 8 Corp operated the site up until April 30. 
According to some of the residents, they first started noticing the noise from the mine around the Spring of 2023. 
According to Marathon’s July earnings report, it has 250,000 Bitcoin mining rigs. It’s unclear how many are at Granbury, but the mine has a hashrate of 4.3 ExaHashs per second (EH/s). 
In a similar 2022 case, residents of Hadsel, a Norwegian municipality, pushed to shut down a local Bitcoin mine over the noise. 
In September, they were successful. However, residents are now facing a spike in their electricity bills due to the loss of revenue for the local power company.