U.S. court orders Energy Information Administration to stop mining company's data collection request

Possibility of suffering irreparable damage

On the 23rd, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas temporarily suspended an emergency investigation of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in a lawsuit filed by the Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) and crypto mining company Riot Platforms against the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The court made a decision to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent the incident.

Temporary restraining order granted pic.twitter.com/LzYVycdEWK

— Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) February 24, 2024

(Riot Platform, Pierre Rochard, Head of Research)

At the end of last month, EIA, the U.S. Department of Energy's statistical and analytical agency, announced that it would begin collecting power consumption data for domestic virtual currency mining companies. The identified mining companies were required to provide detailed responses regarding their electricity use.

EIA's survey of mining companies was approved by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on January 26 as an emergency data collection request. This included providing highly confidential information such as specifications and performance details and contract details.

connection:U.S. Energy Information Administration requests “urgent data collection” from virtual currency mining companies

TBC and Riot filed a lawsuit against EIA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and OMB on the 22nd, alleging that the EIA's request constitutes “sloppy procedures and invasive government data collection based on an unnatural and self-inflicted sense of urgency.” . Unless the courts intervene, the plaintiffs and other mining companies will be forced to disclose confidential and confidential information from the EIA, even though it is illegal, and will suffer “immediate and irreparable harm.” Therefore, the government requested that a TRO be issued.

EIA claims and court decisions

EIA pointed out that the sharp rise in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) has led to increased mining activity, raising concerns about its impact on the U.S. power industry as the basis for the urgent investigation request. In addition, as electricity demand increases due to the severe cold wave, there is a possibility that it will cause a peak in demand, and there is an “urgent” need to create reliable data in order to quantitatively assess the “possibility of public harm.” argued that it was necessary.

In contrast, courts have ruled that the government can only make an “urgent request'' for information when it is determined that “in a time-sensitive emergency situation, normal procedures are likely to cause public harm.'' It is pointed out that there is. It said the EIA's reasoning was “arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion” and likely violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).

Additionally, the EIA claimed that the estimated time to complete the investigation was 30 minutes, and that the cost of compliance was minimal, but the plaintiff's verification revealed that the cost was more than 40 hours. After considering the details of the investigation, the court determined that the estimated time to complete the work of 30 minutes was extremely inaccurate, and accepted the plaintiff's argument.

It added that the plaintiffs have also demonstrated that they are likely to succeed in this case.

This time, the court has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), which is valid until March 25, when the EIA indicates its intention to enforce it. A hearing on the preliminary injunction pending a final judgment is scheduled to take place on February 28th.

Texas Blockchain Council v. Department of Energy

“ORDER SETTING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION HEARING in District Courtroom #1, on the Third Floor of the United States Courthouse, 800 Franklin Ave, Waco, TX, on Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 10:00 AM.

All parties and counsel must… pic.twitter.com/Qu4IMqbIwR

— Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) February 26, 2024

EIA response

In response to the court's issuance of a TRO, EIA announced the following measures regarding the investigation against mining companies.

EIA will not enforce any requirement to file Form EIA-862 nor seek or impose any fines, penalties, or other adverse consequences based on a failure to respond to the survey through March 22, 2024.

— EIA (@EIAgov) February 23, 2024

TBC Chairman Lee Bratcher criticized the EIA's actions, saying, “EIA's actions set a worrying precedent for government interference in the affairs of private companies without justifiable reason or due process.'' He commented that the court's decision proves that the EIA and the Ministry of Energy are not complying with the law.

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