Plaintiffs in the lawsuit suggested that an Energy Information Administration mandatory survey for crypto miners was politically motivated and an overreach of government authority.
The Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) and mining firm Riot Platforms filed a lawsuit over the Energy Information Administration’s attempt to gather information on energy usage from crypto miners.
In a Feb. 22 filing in United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, the TBC and Riot alleged the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration (EIA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and their leadership sought an “invasive” data collection from cryptocurrency miners. The lawsuit was filed ahead of a Feb. 23 deadline under the threat of fines and penalties to respond to an EIA survey on the electricity usage of mining companies.
The TBC claimed the collection was politically motivated, arguing that requiring mining firms to provide the U.S. government with potentially contractual information and making it public would represent an overreach in authority. The group called out Senator Elizabeth Warren and the White House for orchestrating the EIA action and requested the court approve a temporary restraining order stopping the data collection.
