The fossil fuel power plant that a private equity firm revived to mine bitcoin is at it again. Not content to just pollute the atmosphere in pursuit of a volatile crypto asset with little real-world utility, this experiment in free marketeering is also dumping tens of millions of gallons of hot water into glacial Seneca Lake in upstate New York.

“The lake is so warm you feel like you’re in a hot tub,” Abi Buddington, who lives near the Greenidge power plant, told NBC News.

Further Reading Private-equity firm revives zombie fossil-fuel power plant to mine bitcoin In the past, nearby residents weren’t necessarily enamored with the idea of a pollution-spewing power plant warming their deep, cold water lake, but at least the electricity produced by the plant was powering their homes. Today, they’re lucky if a small fraction does. Most of the time, the turbines are burning natural gas solely to mint profits for the private equity firm Atlas Holdings by mining bitcoin.

Basically, they are using an old baseload power plant that kept voltage from sagging in NYSEG's northern most territory, and now using it as a peaker plant, with energy going to the server farm when demand is low. Is Greenridge neccessary to keep the lights on all of the time in the Northern Finger Lakes? Probably not, as it didn't operate for a while, although you could see scenarios on hot summer days when the voltage would sag, as much of the area is wired through rural 115kV lines that can only carry so much current.