This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

In the western North Carolina town of Murphy, a peaceful mountain town once defined by birdsong and swaying trees, a steady electric hum now cuts through the calm. That hum comes from a cryptocurrency mine, and it’s been intruding into Rebecca and Tom Lash’s lives since the mine was built in 2021.

“There was nothing in this little pasture but these electric lines,” Rebecca Lash said, as she and Tom stood on the hill overlooking the mine. “And it was just nice and quiet.”

Now, the landscape is shifting and one of the three crypto mines is turning into a data center.