MARA’s Bitcoin Mining Became a Nightmare for this Texas Town
A 4-year-long dispute between residents of rural Hood County and a close by Bitcoin mining operation has uncovered the social prices of Texas’ crypto increase. Homeowners turned in opposition to one of many state’s largest digital-asset miners.
At the middle of the battle is a giant Bitcoin mine operated by MARA Holdings close to Granbury in unincorporated Hood County.
Bitcoin Mining Becomes a Constant Mental Torture
Neighbors say a fixed, low-frequency hum from the ability’s cooling methods has turned day by day life into what they describe as a unending ordeal. MARA (formerly Marathon Digital) says it operates legally, brings funding and jobs, and has taken steps to cut back noise.
The mine began operating in 2022 subsequent to a natural-gas energy plant exterior Granbury. Residents quickly reported round the clock noise, likening it to “standing on a runway” or “the sting of Niagara Falls.” Complaints intensified by means of 2023 as the positioning expanded.
“This is a sound that blasts me on daily basis after I stroll out of my again door,” one resident mentioned in a latest Al Jazeera report. Others described sleepless nights, complications, and stress. “The group is sick,” one other resident mentioned. “More than simply noise, it’s a bodily bombardment. It’s torturous.”
Texas Crypto Boom Meets Local Limits
Texas has become the largest Bitcoin mining hub within the United States, internet hosting near 30% of nationwide mining energy by 2023, drawn by low cost land, low taxes, and a deregulated energy market.
That progress has collided with a key authorized actuality. Counties in Texas usually can not go enforceable noise ordinances. Only cities can.
Hood County officers tried to make use of state “unreasonable noise” statutes in 2024, issuing citations tied to high decibel thresholds.
However, the trouble faltered in courtroom, displaying how slender these legal guidelines are in contrast with typical municipal noise limits.
Lawsuits and Sound Studies
Residents organized and filed a personal nuisance lawsuit in state courtroom, arguing that the mine’s noise and vibration considerably intervene with their use of their houses.
The case stays lively, with disputes over entry to operational information and measurements.
Separately, Hood County commissioned an impartial sound examine in late 2024. The report documented elevated sound ranges close to the positioning and emphasised that the authorized threshold utilized in prison regulation is much extra permissive than metropolis noise requirements elsewhere.
The examine additionally famous limits in entry and coordination, which prevented a full evaluation underneath all working situations.
MARA says it has invested closely to mitigate impacts. The firm constructed a giant acoustic barrier wall, changed some cooling followers with quieter fashions, and started transitioning components of the positioning to liquid immersion cooling.
In a assertion cited by Al Jazeera, MARA said it has invested more than $320 million locally, helps dozens of jobs, generates tax income, and “stay[s] dedicated to being good neighbors.”
For residents, these steps haven’t gone far sufficient.
“This was our eternally residence,” one home-owner mentioned. “I can’t promote my property. I’m being taxed at a larger charge now than my property is value.”
A Failed Bid for Cityhood
In 2025, residents pursued a last-ditch technique. They needed to include their group as a metropolis, which might have allowed them to enact native noise legal guidelines.
The effort drew nationwide consideration and authorized pushback from MARA, however a choose allowed the vote to proceed. Voters in the end rejected incorporation, ending the bid to realize municipal authority.
“That was the plan,” an organizer advised Al Jazeera. “But it has simply fallen down as a result of they misplaced that battle.”
With incorporation off the desk, residents say they are going to proceed to combat by means of the courts.
The publish MARA’s Bitcoin Mining Became a Nightmare for this Texas Town appeared first on BeInCrypto.
