Bitcoin mining data center condemned after leaking 3 million gallons of water and forcing school closures — facility operated for years under a city stop-work order

A Bitcoin mining data center in El Reno, Oklahoma has been condemned after it leaked 3 million gallons of water, reports Koco TV News. Schools, businesses, and city and county offices were all closed last week, due to the leak.

According to the source report, the Athlon Blockchain LLC-owned data center shouldn’t even have been operating, as the city issued it a Stop Work Order in 2023, due to “multiple fire and life safety code violations as well as the expiration of the building and electrical permits that had previously been issued.” The city asserts that none of the costs related to the water leak at the property will be passed on to citizens, according to the source.

We don’t know whether the Bitcoin mining data center development went ahead despite the Stop Work Order in 2023 due to ignorance or a devil-may-care attitude to regulation. Koco reports that the owner of the property was given until the end of 2023 to comply with safety codes and obtain new permits, while construction should have been put on hold. Now it is believed that the firm building the facility set up the data center and began operations without any further consultation with the city. Perhaps the owners thought they could sidestep the Stop Work Order by housing the data center in an array of shipping containers…