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Senator Ted Cruz has introduced a bill to promote the use of flared gas in Bitcoin mining, offering permanent tax incentives for converting otherwise wasted natural gas into electricity. This legislation aims to reduce emissions, support miners, and decentralize the grid.
Senator Cruz announced the FLARE Act on April 1st but this was no April Fool’s joke. He proposes making permanent the 100% bonus depreciation for equipment used to convert flared or stranded natural gas into power. This incentive is expected to benefit industries like Bitcoin mining, which have started turning to off-grid energy sources to improve sustainability and reduce reliance on traditional power infrastructure.
Bitcoin miners have already begun tapping flared gas in oil-rich regions of Texas and North Dakota. In some cases, mobile mining units are deployed directly to oilfields, using the natural gas that would otherwise be burned off as a byproduct of drilling. The FLARE Act aims to support and expand this trend, formalizing incentives that could make such operations more widespread and commercially viable.
The bill takes advantage of Texas’s vast energy potential, reinforces its position as the home of the Bitcoin industry, and is good for the environment. Hailey Miller, Director of Government Relations & Public Policy at the Digital Power Network, added that this bill represents “critical legislation” that would eliminate unnecessary flaring and venting of natural gas while unlocking new opportunities for energy innovation in the United States.
In March 2022, energy giant Exxon revealed it was experimenting with mining bitcoins through energy from flaring. In August 2023, U.S. energy company Nodal Power announced plans to turn some of the electricity generated from waste methane into Bitcoin mining.
Source: https://fullycrypto.com/flare-act-would-utilize-flared-gas-for-bitcoin-mining?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=flare-act-would-utilize-flared-gas-for-bitcoin-mining
