Riot Platforms Construction Continues Amid Scrutiny - Protest Held at Navarro County Location

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By Ashley Morgan

Riot Blockchain (Platforms) originated and headquartered in Castle Rock, Colorado is building and developing daily as they prepare to be in full operation here in Corsicana. The Navarro County site is set to be the largest bitcoin mining operation, utilizing the liquid immersion technology, located 7 miles outside Corsicana at 6980 FM 709.

Their 265-acre site with immersion cooled mining has not received power to date and therefore cannot be measured.

“Riot will bring up to 400 jobs to Navarro County once its fully operational and the expansion of the tax base will be beneficial to the county,” John Boswell (Navarro County Director of Economic Development) said.

This week has been busy with Riot hosting its very first Bitcoin meetup at the site that brought together Corsicana residents and Bitcoin supporters from the community. (See Picture above)

Also held this week was a town hall meeting located at 114 S. Beaton Street in Corsicana to learn about bitcoin mining hosted by the Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining (non-government and non-profit organization). The panelists present were Adrian Shelley, Ed Hirs, Jackie Sawicky and Kimberlee Walter (founder of Stand Up for Change).

The Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining are against Riot’s operation in Navarro County and want to bring attention to residents because of Riot’s extreme energy use, water usage, and the noise pollution that will be brought on by this facility. They called for transparency and accountability.

Also, the Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining along with Greenpeace USA were present at Riot Platforms Wednesday October 25th for a protest.

“No water for Riot” was heard as they stood with their signs in front of the site. Greenpeace workers Gigi Singh (Senior Strategic Communications Specialist) and Joshua Archer (Senior Climate Campaigner) are concerned with Navarro County’s strained electric grids, limited water supply, and resources.

“There’s something worth fighting for in this county,” said Joshua. Greenpeace admires Texans who don’t give up without a fight and they intend to fight alongside others as they write their documentary about Riot and the major Wallstreet firms keeping Riot afloat such as JP Morgan and Vanguard. Some of their pictures and information can be found at greenpeace.org, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @greenpeaceusa.