Responding to residents’ pleas for help, Hood County officials have taken steps toward providing relief from noxious noise pollution generated by a bitcoin mine near Granbury owned by Marathon Digital Holdings.
Research shows that sound waves like those emitted by cryptocurrency mining facilities are a health hazard, and dozens of people who live near the Marathon bitcoin mine have reported getting sick since the plant began operating in 2022.
A resolution unanimously approved during Tuesday’s Hood County Commissioners Court meeting seeks legislative action to “address acoustical and noise pollution, destruction of property values, and the incredible demand on the Texas Energy grid caused by Cryptocurrency mining.”
Commissioners also voted 3-2 to hire acoustical consultants HGC Engineering to conduct a sound study on Marathon’s crypto mining facility.
County Judge Ron Massingill and Commissioner Jack Wilson voted against the study.
Commissioners Nannette Samuelson, Dave Eagle, and Kevin Andrews voted for both measures, although Andrews questioned the need for the sound study.
“THANK YOU to everyone who came to court today to tell your story! YOU WERE HEARD!” Samuelson—who proposed both measures—posted on Facebook.
More than a dozen area residents showed up to speak in favor of the proposals.
“Why are we not getting the help that we need from you guys, from the county, from the state, or anybody?” one of the speakers asked commissioners during public comments before the votes. “We’re begging. We’re literally begging for help at this point. We don’t know what else to do. Why has it taken this long?”
How Marathon’s Bitcoin Mine Is “A Bad Neighbor”
“Bitcoin is a bad neighbor,” Chris Weeks told commissioners.
Weeks and her husband Tom live less than half a mile from Marathon’s mine. Chris said Tom was too ill to attend Tuesday’s meeting.
“All we ask them to do was to stop the noise pollution. We don’t have time for long-term solutions. We need something that’s going to help us now and stop us from having all these symptoms,” she said.
Weeks referenced an article published by Harvard Medical School titled “Noise pollution is more than a nuisance. It’s a health risk” that cites hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep disturbances, stress, and cognition problems among the consequences of excessive exposure to noise.
Several speakers at Tuesday’s meeting told commissioners they moved to Hood County specifically for peace and quiet, but instead got constant noise and new health problems.
Joe Webber, who suffers PTSD from being in the Twin Towers on 9/11, moved to Hood County five years ago to be in a peaceful environment. “That’s not what I hear every day.”
He said the noise from the mine sounds like an airplane, which is one of his stress triggers.
Webber co-authored a petition asking elected officials to take action to protect residents of Hood County and neighboring Somervell County from “excessive and unhealthy” noise from Marathon’s bitcoin mine, which is located near the county line at the Wolf Hollow II power plant operated by Constellation Energy.
Marathon’s 300-megawatt mine runs constantly, powered by electricity bought from Constellation behind the meter at a significantly lower rate than residential customers pay. Marathon can boost profits by reselling the electricity to the grid at a higher rate, or by participating in ERCOT’s demand response program that pays companies not to use power during peak demand.
Jenna Hornbuckle is a plant operator in Somervell County who lives six miles from Marathon’s bitcoin mine.
Because her job requires regular physicals, she has 10 years of health data showing she had “a perfect working heart,” yet she was diagnosed in 2023 with heart failure. In addition, both she and her daughters have suffered sudden hearing loss so severe that they required cochlear implants.
“Bitcoin has not yet been directly correlated to health issues, but low frequency noise is a big issue,” Hornbuckle told commissioners, adding that some of her neighbors can’t even get out of bed.
“We’re being called crazy. We’re not crazy. This is serious,” she said. “Take a ride out there.”
Shannon Wolf has taken rides out there. She’s a Hood County GOP precinct chair whose district includes the Marathon bitcoin mine.
“They’re stealing the health of an entire community,” Wolf told commissioners.
She said the medical complaints described in detail by so many residents “are consistent with those resulting from prolonged exposure to excessive sound frequencies.”
Sarah Rosenkranz is a small business owner who lives a half mile from the Marathon mine. Her story was featured in TIME Magazine‘s article on health problems suffered by Hood County residents that they believe are caused by the noise.
Rosenkrantz described to commissioners her family’s recent illnesses and said the noise is so loud her daughter can’t play outside or sleep.
“It’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Rosenkrantz said.
She said her family would like to move, but a realtor told her they can’t sell their house because no one would buy it.
“I respect that Marathon is a business,” she said. “I just don’t want to be sick anymore.”
You’re the only one who can do something about it. Please help us. We’re literally dying. We’re suffering. We just really, really need y’all to help us.
Why a Sound Study and Correct Measurements Matter
Technical issues prevented commissioners from viewing a video provided by Samuelson of sound expert Mariana Alves-Pereira describing the harmful health effects of low-frequency noise, which cannot be heard and is not picked up by decibel meters designed to measure nuisance-level noise.
Resident Danny Lakey explained to commissioners why correct measurements matter.
Decibel meters can measure sound levels using a dBA scale, which is weighted to assess noise humans can hear and filters out low frequency energy, or a dBC scale, which will pick up dangerous low frequency sound waves and yield higher noise readings.
Lakey said the “mystery illnesses” reported around the bitcoin mine—heart disease, immune system disorders, sleep problems—are caused by stress, and stress is related to low-frequency noise measured on the dBC scale.
“A is the one that annoys your neighbors—that’s the nuisance part. C is the one that’s going to kill you,” Lakey said.
Lakey’s own mysterious heart ailments were featured in another article exposing health problems suffered by people living near Marathon’s Hood County bitcoin mine—one of three the company operates in Texas and 12 the Florida-based company owns worldwide.
Lakey added that Texas nuisance laws “don’t say A or C; they just say 85 decibels.”
The inadequacy of current state law prompted the county officials’ resolution, which they are sending to State Sen. Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury) and State Rep. Shelby Slawson (R-Stephenville).
Several residents noted Slawson had specifically requested a sound study from the county.
Richard Hoefs, who serves on Granbury’s planning and zoning commission, said the study will provide lawmakers with data they need to craft legislation that will protect all Texas citizens.
Sarah Rosenkrantz added that the sound study is important because Marathon is saying their sound studies “prove that they’re not hurting us, that everything they’re doing is within the law and it’s okay.”
Earlier this month, local jurors acquitted Marathon plant manager David Fischer on 12 noise violations. Marathon claimed sound readings taken by Hood County Constable John Shirley were incorrect and that noise levels from the mine were acceptable for an industrial site. Jurors agreed with Fischer’s lawyer that the manager was not responsible for the violations.
Who Is Responsible for Protecting Residents?
County Attorney Matt Mills told commissioners it is legal for the county to pay for the sound study under public health and safety provisions.
Judge Massingill and Commissioner Andrews questioned the need for the study.
“I really feel sorry for everyone, but I just don’t see what benefit this sound study is going to do,” Massingill said. “I don’t see how this $6,500 is going to do anything to give any relief to you people.”
Andrews said he was “struggling” with the question.
“At what point does this become a county issue?” he asked. “What do we do with this data? Is it symbolism over substance?”
Samuelson responded that a committee has already been formed in the Texas Senate to look at this issue, and a sound study will provide independent data from experts.
“This is scientific data that will help our legislators understand issues with cryptocurrency,” she said.
Shannon Wolf, the final public speaker, agreed with Samuelson and others that lawmakers need a sound study from the county that will be viewed as independent and unbiased.
“It is not symbolic,” she said, adding that the county would be spending money on the study to help resolve a problem affecting all residents, not on a “project.”
“We are not a project. We are citizens of Hood County who need your help,” said Wolf.
In addition to interest from state lawmakers, Samuelson said a representative of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) attended Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting.
In an interview last month with Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel, Cruz said he wants Texas to be “an oasis for bitcoin.” Cruz and Thiel did not discuss health hazards attributed to crypto mining noise.
Former President Donald Trump has also recently embraced cryptocurrency and is scheduled to speak at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville this week.
Back in Hood County, John Highsmith pointed out that commissioners should protect residents, not “the boys from Fort Lauderdale” who own Marathon’s bitcoin mine.
Hood County Commissioners Court meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month.
