NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. — It has been nearly three weeks since neighbors in the City of North Tonawanda were first interrupted by a noise coming from the Digihost cryptocurrency facility on Erie Avenue.
It’s been described as an electric hum, others have said it's more like a whir, but David Hahn just wants it to end.
"It's that whistling and that howling and it's nonstop," Hahn said.
Hahn and his neighbors on Sherwood Avenue have some of the closest homes to the facility and since the noise began around Feb. 22 they've been asking the city to do something.
"This is something that is real to us in this area, it may not affect everyone in NT but it definitely affects us and hopefully our voices are heard and they do something about it," Hahn said.
The response Hahn got one week later was: "I'm going to stop the noise."
That statement was made by City of North Tonawanda Common Council President Bob Pecoraro on March 1. Pecoraro was questioned about the noise complaints after their first council meeting of the month.
But just two weeks later at the council's second meeting of the month, it was déjà vu because the noise hadn’t stopped.
“They [Digihost] should be through with their testing as quickly as possible so then we can explore the sound abatement issues and where they come in,” Pecoraro said.
Pecoraro explained that Digihost plans to construct a large berm around the facility to dampen the noise. When Hahn asked whether that berm would stop the noise, Pecoraro clarified saying “it will lessen it.”
When 2 On Your Side asked the council president for a timeline for the project he said Digihost had estimated it would take four to six weeks, two weeks ago. As of March 15 that would be two to four weeks.
Since March 1, Digihost has added several server container boxes to the property. The noise is caused by fans used to cool the computers inside those containers. Mining and processing cryptocurrency takes a lot of power which generates a lot of heat. In order to maintain processing, the heat needs to be removed.
Kathy Rybacki told 2 On Your Side before the meeting she continues to hear the whine one mile away from the plant.
“I think they have to do some investigating. This was like pushed through without anything that the public wanted,” she said.
North Tonawanda Mayor Austin Tylec did say that Digihost has also hired an acoustic engineer to address the noise issue. That was something discussed at the last common council meeting and for neighbors is some additional progress.
2 On Your Side also questioned Pecoraro about past decisions involving the project:
REPORTER: Looking back when this discussion was brought up last year, do you have regrets that things weren't brought up at the time?
PECORARO: Well if you looked at my letter to the editor in the Buffalo news I stated at the bottom that no sound would leave the compound and I'm committed to that."
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