US Court Stalls Energy Dept Demand For Cryptocurrency Mining Data

'Crypto mines will have to start reporting their energy use in the U.S.,' wrote the Verge in January, saying America's Energy department would 'begin collecting data on crypto mines' electricity use, following criticism from environmental advocates over how energy-hungry those operations are.'

But then 'constitutional freedoms' group New Civil Liberties Alliance (founded with seed money from the Charles Koch Foundation) objected. And 'on behalf of its clients' — the Texas Blockchain Council and Colorado bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms — the group said it 'looks forward to derailing the Department of Energy's unlawful data collection effort once and for all.'

While America's Energy department said the survey would take 30 minutes to complete, the complaint argued it would take 40 hours. According to the judge, the complaint 'alleged three main sources of irreparable injury...'

- Nonrecoverable costs of compliance with the Survey
- A credible threat of prosecution if they do not comply with the Survey
- The disclosure of proprietary information requested by the Survey, thus risking disclosure of sensitive business strategy

But more importantly, the survey was implemented under 'emergency' provisions, which the judge said is only appropriate when 'public harm is reasonably likely to result if normal clearance procedures are followed.'

Or, as Semafor.com puts it, the complaint was 'seeking to push off the reporting deadline, on the grounds that the survey was rushed through...without a public comment period.'

The judge, Alan Albright, granted the request late Friday night, blocking the [Department of Energy's Information Administration] from collecting survey data or requiring bitcoin companies to respond to it, at least until a more comprehensive injunction hearing scheduled for Feb. 28. The ruling also concludes that the plaintiffs are 'likely to succeed in showing that the facts alleged by the U.S. Energy Information Administration to support an emergency request fall far short of justifying such an action.'

The U.S. Department of Energy is now...

Restrained from requiring Plaintiffs or their members to respond to the SurveyRestrained from collecting data required by the Survey'...and shall sequester and not share any such data that Defendants have already received from Survey respondents.'

Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.