For context and background: #604353
Marathon’s site manager at its Granbury, Texas facility has been found not liable for the alleged noise violation that recently brought the bitcoin mining giant into the spotlight.
According to a local news report on Wednesday, Marathon’s site manager David Fischer was acquitted of 12 noise violation charges after a two-day trial this week.
While Constable Shirley also issued noise citations to Marathon, this week’s trial focused solely on the case against Fischer. Fischer’s defense attorneys from Gill & Brissette, who also represent Marathon, reportedly challenged the accuracy of Shirley’s sound readings and argued that his enforcement actions were politically motivated to boost his reelection campaign.
DLNews had previously reported complaints from Granbury residents, who claimed they were experiencing health issues due to the noise from the mining site that Marathon acquired from Generate Capital late last year. The site was previously managed by USBTC before its merger with Hut 8. Earlier this week, TIME published a feature story that followed up on the reported health issues of local residents.
According to Hood County News, Hood County Attorney Matt Mills stated that the jurors reached a unanimous verdict that Fischer is not “personally responsible,” although the jurors who gave him feedback reportedly agreed that the low-hum frequency sound from the site is an “unreasonable noise.”
“I’m disappointed for the victims. We may proceed later against the company itself,” Mills was quoted as saying.
The plant manager for a bitcoin mine and data center in unincorporated Hood County has been found not guilty on 12 counts of noise violations.
Defendant David Fischer, the plant manager for Marathon Digital — a multi billion dollar bitcoin mining operation out of Florida — was found not guilty by a jury on Tuesday.
Hood County attorney Matt Mills represented the residents and presented the noise citations.
The case revolved around citations addressed specifically to Fisher, not Marathon Digital. Bob Gill and Miles Brissette, the defendant’s attorney, said the reading conducted by Shirley were improper and inflated. Gill said that the noise caused by the mine and data center was not improper because it was coming from a permitted industrial site. The attorneys also said David Fischer was not the proper person to cite and added that it is up to the county and Mills if they want to cite Marathon Digital.
Residents have complained of increased health issues, blaming it on the mine’s non stop noise and also expressed concern’s about the impact the operation could have on the state’s power grid and the environment. Fort Worth based law firm Gill & Brissette represented Marathon Digital and David Fischer in the case. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the verdict but did reach out to notify a Star-Telegram reporter of the verdict Tuesday afternoon. Representatives for Marathon Digital were not immediately available for comment. The company said in previous interview that it is working to make the operation quieter. It said it was the least remote bitcoin operation it has in Texas.