Republican Rep. Tom Emmer calls government agency's bitcoin miner survey "an abuse of power"

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., has a bone to pick with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget over its recent move to authorize collecting data from bitcoin mining companies in the U.S.

Emmer said he wants answers from the OMB after the government agency allowed last month for the Energy Information Administration (EIA) — a statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy — to begin surveying certain crypto mining firms on their electricity consumption. Emmer laid out concerns over OMB's use of its emergency approval authority and said bitcoin miners don't currently present a threat to public safety, in a letter sent to OMB Director Shalanda Young this week.

"Bitcoin mining is not a threat to public safety. Period," Emmer said in a post on X on Thursday. "The OMB's abuse of its emergency powers to attack Bitcoin miners demands an explanation."

Emmer said that the agency has to prove to the OMB that "public harm is reasonably likely," among other criteria. 

"With the assistance of the OMB, the EIA seems to be enforcing the Biden administration's regressive policy position against energy consumption and applying it subjectively to the digital asset industry," Emmer said in his letter.

Emmer posed questions to OMB, including asking about what criteria the agency used to "determine the legitimacy of the 'emergency'" and whether EIA got public input beforehand. 

Emmer did not set a deadline for OMB to respond. 

The OMB did not respond to a request for comment and EIA declined to comment. 

Lawsuit ensues

Emmer's letter comes as the Texas Blockchain Council and bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms, Inc. sued the Department of Energy on Thursday in a Texas district court, claiming the survey was "unlawfully approved" by the OMB.

"This is a case about sloppy government process, contrived and self-inflicted urgency, and invasive government data collection," the complaint  reads. 

Members of the Texas Blockchain Council, including Riot, say that the survey will take "multiple employees many hours at each company every month," despite EIA saying it would take only half an hour each month, according to the complaint. 

"Absent this Court’s intervention, Plaintiffs, TBC’s members, and other mining companies who have received and are bound to complete the legally defective survey will be immediately and irreparably harmed by being forced to divulge confidential, sensitive, and proprietary information to EIA, which had no lawful authority to request or collect," they said in the complaint. 

EIA declined to comment on the lawsuit and OMB and the Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment. 

Concerns over bitcoin mining's energy usage

Electricity demand tied to crypto mining operations in the U.S. grew quickly over the past few years, according to a statement released by EIA in February. 

"As cryptocurrency mining has increased in the United States, concerns have grown about the energy-intensive nature of the business and its effects on the U.S. electric power industry. Concerns expressed to EIA include strains to the electricity grid during periods of peak demand, the potential for higher electricity prices, as well as effects on energy-related carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions," EIA said. 

Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and Katie Porter of California have voiced concerns over crypto mining firms' strain on Texas' electrical grid and its effect on climate change. 

“Cryptomining is adding significant demand to an already unreliable grid, ‘pos(ing) enormous challenges to the transmission and distribution system and to prices’  and contributing to the global climate crisis," the lawmakers said in 2022.