(ABC 6 News) — A Monday night meeting of the Mitchell County Board of Adjustment saw dozens of Mitchell county residents speak out against a proposed bitcoin mining facility potentially coming to Osage.

Simple Mining is a firm based in Cedar Falls that facilitates bitcoin transactions, and is seeking to lease land from Heartland Power Cooperative to erect a mining facility just outside of Osage’s city limits.

Founder and CEO Adam Haynes said that he has 75 employees and six mining facilities in operation throughout Iowa.

“It’s going to bring jobs,” said Haynes. “It might not be, you know, 500 jobs, but in small town Iowa, you know, even adding five or six jobs is still, I think, a net positive. It’s a great win for the local utility company, Heartland Power.”

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency, and the mining facilities operate essentially as large data centers with machines that solve complex codes in order to procure and exchange bitcoin units.

The mining facilities have been criticized for their environmental impact, as they require large amounts of electricity to operate and cool the technology.

The U.S. Department of Energy published a study in February 2024 estimating anywhere from .6% to 2.3% of all U.S. electricity consumption was being used for cryptocurrency mining.

Haynes said the facility would typically utilize about 12MW of electricity, but the overwhelming concerns voiced by citizens were regarding the noise the facility would generate.

“They run these servers day and night, that’s how they make their money,” said Gretchen Castle, who lives less than a mile from the proposed site.

“There’s a nursing home, and plenty of elderly people living that and that whole area in there. And I heard people talk about how they’re worried about their property values.”

Haynes attempted to assuage the concerns, saying the facility’s noise can not be heard at a distance of more than around 500 feet, but the crowd wasn’t convinced.

“I don’t believe you,” said Osage resident Don Breon. “You guys (Simple Mining) really need to consider and look into what the effects it’s going to have on our community, members of our community, on our farms and family and all those animals that are living in our community. This is going to affect all of those, I guarantee it.”

The public hearing concluded after more than an hour of concerns were voiced, and the Adjustment board agreed to table the motion until such time that a noise ordinance could potentially be implemented and an environmental study conducted, though few details were given as to when or how that would take place.

“I think there’s just a lot of misunderstanding,” said Haynes. “It’s a very new industry. But, you know, (we) will remain optimistic and continue to try and work with the community to put the right regulations and parameters in place to to hopefully be able to still, you know, expand our business.”