(The Center Square) – The Arkansas Senate adopted a resolution Monday that would impose a regulation on the crypto mining industry in Arkansas.
The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forrest, would require digital asset mining businesses in the state to pay an annual fee for “extraordinary electrical energy usage.”
The fee would range from $25,000 to $100,000 per year depending on the amount of electrical energy used.
Senate Resolution 11 previously struggled to receive enough support to move forward after failing to garner enough votes to be adopted last week. However, a motion to expunge that vote was approved and the resolution received enough votes in favor Monday to be adopted.
If passed, 25% of the money collected through the extraordinary electrical energy usage fee would go to the Office of the Attorney General and would be used, in part, to fund “oversight and monitoring of digital asset mining businesses and businesses utilizing a blockchain network for fraud or other illegal activities,” according to the resolution.
Fifty percent of the proceeds from the fee would go to the State Securities Department and another 25% would go to the Department of Energy and Environment. The money would be used for personnel services and operating expenses and oversight and monitoring of digital asset mining businesses, according to the resolution.
King said crypto mines have impacted the Carroll-Boone Water District in Eureka Springs for several years.
“We’ve had low water tables since 2017 in two years there,” said King. “So the water usage would be something that’s critical. And for you in Benton County, you should know about how this is possibly going to affect the grid. If water allocation is getting low and it’s getting for people drinking water, businesses, poultry industry, well guess what else that impacts? Beaver Dam. Anyone want to talk about the generation capacity? So these things need to be thought out.”
Lawmakers heard testimony earlier this year about how crypto-mining facilities impact the quality of life for people who live near them due to the noise. Additionally, “tremendous amounts of water” tend to be used by data centers, according to Faulkner County Attorney Phillip Murphy.
King said the regulations that would be imposed through the resolution are meant to make things “fair.”
