By Kevin Puskar
Staff Correspondent
Martins Creek – The incessant noise that rattles your windows. The noise you can hear inside your home, even with the doors and windows shut tight.
It interrupts your day-to-day activities. It interrupts your sleep, your conversations and your commune with nature as you take a walk or sit on your porch.
Those type of comments were common on the afternoon of Feb. 26, when about 40 people attended a town hall meeting in the Martins Creek Community Center to discuss crypto mining and the noise pollution that can accompany it.
One local woman shared she was afraid to divulge her name in opposition to the noise for fear of retribution. Fear of something happening to her children stopped her from saying anything further.
From the audience came cries of, “How did this crypto thing happen? Who is responsible? Why didn’t we know in advance? When we saw the power poles go in, we stopped and asked why and for what? We called the power companies, but there was no explanation.”
The panel at the town hall tried to answer difficult questions for which there were no clear answers. Commission candidate Ben Adams said Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corp. should have to respond “because they are a co-op.” In addition, Murphy Electric Power Co. is owned by a municipality.
One woman said she loved her community and its people, and her heart was breaking for them. She had contacted an attorney looking for a solution to the problem.
“What about a noise ordinance?” came a voice from the back of the room. “Why is there not a moratorium?” like in Clay County, said another voice.
Adams offered that since Cherokee County does not have zoning, “The only thing that the board of commissioners could do would be to pass an ordinance to prevent any more from coming in,” adding, “That’s about the power of the county commissioners because it’s already here, No. 1, and No. 2, it’s a private entity.”
Commission candidate John Midkiff wants to
know how did the crypto companies buy land, run power and get so far “without someone knowing
what they were doing.”
“We have to put the cart before the horse,” and “we need transparency,” Ron Wright added.
A voice from the back said it’s only a temporary problem, as all those metal boxes and computers with large fans will be rusted out in two years from sitting out in the rain and snow.