The Energy Information Administration (EIA) plans to resume surveying cryptocurrency mining companies this year, as discussed during a July 10 webinar reported by Bitcoin Magazine. The EIA aims to restart these surveys as early as this quarter, although no current efforts are listed in the Federal Register.
The recent webinar sought public and industry feedback on survey topics, data relevance, and survey design. Identifying specific mining operations remains challenging for the EIA, as companies often relocate to regions with cheaper energy, complicating monitoring.
Exploring Alternative Approaches
Stakeholders proposed alternatives during the webinar amid controversy over the EIA’s initial attempt to gather mining data. Lee Bratcher, founder of the Texas Blockchain Council, suggested broadening surveys to include all data centers rather than focusing solely on crypto miners. Jayson Browder, SVP of Government Affairs at Marathon Digital, supported this approach.
Margot Paez from the Bitcoin Policy Institute recommended collaborating with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to leverage their AI and energy consumption expertise for anonymizing data used by the EIA. Representatives from the Digital Energy Council and Blockchain Association also participated actively.
Initial Challenges and Legal Action
In late January, the EIA announced plans for a mandatory survey after emergency approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Legal challenges arose when the Texas Blockchain Council and Riot Blockchain filed a lawsuit in February, arguing that the EIA should have allowed a public comment period before seeking OMB approval—a concern earlier raised by Majority Whip Tom Emmer.
The EIA suspended the survey in February and settled the lawsuit in March by agreeing to either destroy or secure the collected information.
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