NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The battle over bitcoin continues in Niagara Falls.
Residents say the noise created by bitcoin mining plants is disturbing their quality of life and they want it to stop.
For Bryan Maacks, the main way he can find an escape is in his backyard workshop where he makes drums, boxes, incense holders and other wooden crafts for his business, Moxes Boxes.
“I've been working out here pretty much eight hours a day,” he said. “It's been good for me as far as having something to do to get out my frustrations.”
For 45 years, the Niagara Falls house has been Maacks' home.
“It started out as a haunting vibrating hum,” he recalled.
Around five months back, something changed.
“What changed is we have a new neighbor moved into the community called U.S. Bitcoin.”
That facility is about half a mile away. You can hear the fans working up close.
“I could openly hear the roar of the falls," he said. "Now, it's the roar of the fans.”
Maacks started a petition. He and about 50 other residents signed saying they can hear the noise in their homes too.
“I have to use noise to neutralize the noise," he explained. "Which is ironic.”
Maacks says the sounds change.
“We need the old neighborhood noises back,” he added.
It sounds something like a jet engine when it powers up and then goes back to that steady hum pretty much every single day.
“A lot of times it's given me headaches, nausea,” Maacks complained.
“They have every right to be disturbed,” said Robert Restaino, the mayor of Niagara Falls.
There is a moratorium in the city on new cryptocurrency operations until September.
The mayor and city are working on a high-energy overlay district to solve this issue.
“We have set a decibel level to be able to measure it," said Restaino. "Once we're able to measure it up against what the statute says, we can make determinations and violations.”
This amendment is working its way through the city and county and would address environmental concerns too.
“The concern from people is, 'oh, there he goes again, saying this thing. It's not going to happen until 2072.' See, that's where you're all wrong," Restaino said. "We're not talking about something that doesn't happen until you have grandchildren.”
That's good news for Maacks, who is ready to retire the sign in his truck that says "U.S. Bitcoin Stop The Noise" and enjoy his retirement.
“I got a lot of people with the horns and going by with a thumbs up,” Maacks said.
His request for U.S. Bitcoin is from them to stop the noise and be a good neighbor.
“Other than that, I don’t really care,” Maacks explained.
Because if it continues, he’ll be back in the garage workshop.
“That's all I talked about is when I retire," he said. "I'm going to come out here and make boxes full time, and of course, U.S. Bitcoin helped me on that.”
But this time, he'll be putting his frustrations into something special.
“An outhouse it says U.S. Bitcoin,” Maacks laughed.
Spectrum News 1 reached out to U.S. Bitcoin for a statement. They have yet to respond.
Mayor Restaino said during a meeting with local Bitcoin facilities, they had questions about whether they would be grandfathered in and other renewable power issues.
Restaino says he will work to allow their businesses to operate but won't sacrifice residents' quality of life.
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