North Carolina crypto mine driving residents out of rural town amid noise, blackout concerns
Murphy resident Mike Lugiewicz joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss how the crypto mine has affected his rural town and why he decided to list his house for sale.
One rural North Carolina town is bearing the brunt of a cryptocurrency mine, sending some residents packing over concerns about the deafening noise and impact on the electric grid.
Murphy, N.C., resident Mike Lugiewicz joined "Fox & Friends First" Monday to discuss his concern surrounding the mine -- which sits about 500 ft. from his front door -- and why he has decided to relocate.
"The noise is insane and if you're on the mountaintop above the crypto mine, it's even worse," Lugiewicz told Carley Shimkus. "I don't know if there's much we can do about it right now, but what we're trying to do as a community is get it out to the public that if they see crypto mines coming up in their area, they need to do everything possible to ban them and not allow those to get on their grid."
LARGE-SCALE CRYPTO MINING OPERATION LAUNCHED IN LONE STAR STATE
Cryptocurrency mines, which the Chinese banned, have been appearing in various places in the U.S., prompting concern surrounding its impact on the electric grid, alongside the unwaveringly obnoxious noise. San Francisco-based company PrimeBlock, which reportedly owns the North Carolina mine, has bought a dozen mines in Appalachia.
Lugiewicz said his community experienced a blackout over the holidays, but even when his lights were off, the crypto mine still had access to power.
"They're just destroying power," Lugiewicz said. "On Christmas Eve, when it was three degrees here, we had rolling blackouts. While we're sitting in the dark, I can look out my window and I could see the crypto mine had power, and I think that that's kind of hurtful right there for the power companies to shut down our power, but leave the crypto mines up and running."
He described the constant, crippling sound which he added was "going on right now" during his early-morning interview.
"This morning it's running at about 85 decibels," Lugiewicz said. "It sounds and feels like you're behind a jet sitting on the tarmac and that jet never leaves, or imagine being inside of Niagara Falls and not being able to get rid of the noise ever like your house is dead center of Niagara Falls."
Lugiewicz decided to list his home for sale but said some of his neighbors don't have the luxury of fleeing the area.
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"When they turned this on last year… the noise was just insane, and we decided we were just going to move," Lugiewicz said. "However, this area is mostly retired folks on a fixed income. They don't have the ability to just pack up and move somewhere else."
"My fight is more for my friends and neighbors," he continued. "We had one neighbor up on top of the mountain and her house feels like it's going to vibrate apart. It's so loud up there."
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