Rep. Schrier Highlights Chelan and Douglas County Actions During Oversight Hearing on Cryptocurrency and Energy UsageE

ISSAQUAH, WA – This week Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08) participated in an Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing called "Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains." Rep. Schrier welcomed Steve Wright, former General Manager of Chelan PUD, as a witness at the hearing to speak about how counties in North Central Washington took action to keep electricity affordable and reliable for consumers in the face of increased demand from crypto mining companies. She also asked about what renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty would do to meet future clean energy needs in Washington State. Rep. Schrier’s remarks can be found here.

“Low-cost clean energy drew cryptocurrency companies from around the world to Chelan and Douglas counties. Over the last 10 years, cryptocurrency companies have increased their demand for energy and at times this threatens the available energy for homes and businesses in the region,” said Rep. Schrier.

In her remarks Rep. Schrier highlighted that Douglas County has a policy that will increase rates 10% every six months, essentially doubling rates every five years. She noted that Chelan County took a different approach. Mr. Wright told Rep. Schrier that Chelan County’s approach was to address the “portability” of crypto miners, who can pick up their operation and leave at any time. And that if a community increased transmission, distribution and generation for crypto companies and then they leave unexpectedly, that cost is borne by residents. So Chelan implemented an upfront charge for transmission and distribution and charged for generation on short-term market prices so it would neutralize the impact to existing customers in case companies left.

Rep. Schrier continued, “I would like to touch on the idea of clean energy as a limited resource with ever-increasing demand. We export hundreds of millions of dollars worth of energy to Canada each year as part of the Columbia River Treaty in exchange for long ago completed dam construction and flood management. At a committee meeting a few months ago, a bipartisan group of Committee members including myself and Ranking Member McMorris Rodgers expressed concern about the lack of progress in the renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty with Canada.  In order to ensure we can meet the demand for clean electricity in Washington, is there something the Committee can do to accelerate the Columbia River Treaty renegotiation process?”

Mr. Wright told Rep. Schrier that he thought it would help to accelerate the renegotiation process if the Committee expressed to the President and his Administration the importance of limiting the amount of energy exported to Canada. That would help with reliability and maintain affordability for northwest consumers. And that flood control and ecosystem concerns could be addressed at the same time.