Legal Action Forces US Energy Department to Suspend Crypto Mining Investigation

Following legal action initiated by Riot Platforms and the Texas Blockchain Council against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the department’s statistical branch, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), has put a temporary hold on its bitcoin mining survey and quarantined the data gathered to date.

DOE Puts Bitcoin Mining Inquiry on Hold Amid Legal Challenges

The Biden administration’s use of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to probe the energy use of crypto miners has backfired after Riot Platforms and the Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) filed a lawsuit against the DOE. The DOE’s working group the EIA published its announcement on the social media platform X.

“[The] EIA will not enforce any requirement to file Form EIA-862 nor seek or impose any fines, penalties, or other adverse consequences based on a failure to respond to the survey through March 22, 2024,” the post on X explains. The EIA notice adds:

In addition, EIA will sequester and not utilize any data received from any party responding to Form EIA-862 through March 22, 2024.

The legal documentation challenging the EIA’s inquiry criticized the survey as a manifestation of a “sloppy government process,” labeling the urgent pretext used to collect data as “contrived.” The lawsuit from Riot and TBC underscored the investigation as a case of “invasive government data collection.” Moreover, the judge handling the matter granted a temporary restraining order against the EIA’s investigation.

“The court believes that plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the facts alleged by defendants to support an emergency request fall far short of justifying such an action,” the order details. “As a result, the determination likely violates the APA as “arbitrary, capricious, [or] an abuse of discretion.”

Tom Emmer, the Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives and a Republican from Minnesota welcomed the news of the EIA’s retreat as a positive step forward. “Great news,” Emmer said. “The Energy Information Administration is backing down on its ‘emergency’ demand for bitcoin miners to share proprietary information. We rejected this administration’s abuse of emergency authority, and common sense prevailed.”