Massena Town Board continues cryptocurrency regulation review

MASSENA — The Town Board is taking another month to review its proposed cryptocurrency mining regulation following a review by the St. Lawrence County Planning Board.

“We still have a little more time with the moratorium. “I would suggest holding tight for another month,” town attorney Eric J. Gustafson told board members.

The latest moratorium, one of many that have been established, is in place until Sept. thirty.

Following a lengthy debate, St. Lawrence County Planning Board members had voted to conditionally approve the regulation with four recommendations:

• Strike the word solely from Section 4.1. b. to eliminate confusion as to whether shipping containers can be used as a containment structure;

• Add the phrase Site Plan Review to Section 5.1 or remove the reference to Article XIII of the Massena Town Code (Site Plan Review);

• Clarify if and how the town intends to exempt existing expansions for cryptocurrency mining operations in order to prevent perpetual expansions that would not be reviewable;

• Delete the reference that requires cryptocurrency mining operations that employ shipping containers not inside a building be subject to this local law since such a use is prohibited under Section 4.1.

They also offered three non-binding recommendations:

• The town consider creating a cryptocurrency local law that specifies standards based on size of operation; the proposed law could apply to smaller scale operations and could be enacted now, while additional regulations for large projects could be developed and added in the future;

• Define shipping container;

• Paginate the local law for easier reference.

“The St. Lawrence County Planning Board came back with recommendations. You will receive copies of these recommendations. I guess basically considering the amount of people that spoke at the county on this, there were just some minor things that they had recommended,” Town Supervisor Susan J. Bellor told town board members.

Gustafson participated in the planning board’s meeting and heard the recommendations, “some of which I think were useful and some I didn’t like as much.”

“Let’s see what we can do with the language. I didn’t necessarily agree with their plans, but I thought maybe there’s a way we can make the law a little more streamlined and effective,” he said. “I think there’s some opportunities to make some improvements to it, and we’re working on that currently.”

Bellor noted that one of the county’s recommendations dealt with smaller units versus larger units.

“I think that’s going to create a lot of unnecessary confusion,” Gustafson said. “I didn’t like that particular resolution at all. But, there are certain items that were particularly important to the town, and certain items that I think can be covered by other legislation that’s out there. So, I think there’s an opportunity for us to take the draft regulations and streamline them a bit so that we have something that’s consistent and defensible.”

The town has been working with North Country Colocation Services to address that company’s concerns, which largely deal with a planned expansion, while addressing concerns raised by board members over other companies that set up unsightly and noisy operations.

“We support the efforts of the town of Massena to adopt cryptocurrency mining regulations that address the concerns of Massena residents involving small cryptocurrency mining operators that are causing visual and noise nuisances and that may not be following applicable safety rules and regulations,” CEO David Fogel said.

He said, in contrast, “NCCS is a large company, employing nearly 100 workers, and operates in an industrial zone with mining operations that do not present any of these same concerns. Our operations are inside buildings far away from areas and are run in a safe and fully compliant manner.”

He said they look forward to “continuing to thrive and grow in Massena and supporting the community through more jobs, taxes, and philanthropic support.”