Residents say crypt-no to crypto mining facility in small town Minnesota

Jeff St. Onge, senior operations manager at Revolve Labs, said Thursday the company has gone to great lengths to prevent noise pollution at the proposed Windom location. The company plans to install 12-foot-tall berms along the property and an alarm system where residents can monitor decibels levels coming from the fans. He said the closest residents will experience sound levels of 41 decibels, similar to current levels there.

St. Onge said the facility would not affect energy prices for Windom residents and that the company chose the area due to its cool weather, good energy rates and proximity to wind farms.

Most of the 100 residents at Thursday’s public hearing appeared skeptical about the company’s claims. The most common concern was noise.

“I like the quiet out there,” said Jay B Kipfer, who lives across the street from the site of the proposed facility. “I go out there at night, I hear the coyotes, I hear all the crickets. You guys come in there, I won’t hear that anymore. It’ll be a totally different life out there, for me and everybody else, and that sound is gonna resonate across Cottonwood Lake.”

Others spoke of the effect on home values, with some speakers questioning whether crypto mining benefits society.

The volume of the murmuring crowd at times reached a decibel level of about 70, according to Tiffany Lamb, Windom’s development director. At one point, Cottonwood County Commissioner Norm Holmen said he couldn’t hear a question because of a box fan blowing behind him.