November 22, 2024
University of Tennessee professor sues TVA for cryptocurrency records
 #CashNews.co

University of Tennessee professor sues TVA for cryptocurrency records #CashNews.co

Cash News

Melanie Faizer, a journalist and professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is suing the Tennessee Valley Authority for what she asserts are violations of the Freedom of Information Act, a federal law that empowers members of the public to gain access to a federal agency’s documents.

Faizer, a former interim news director at UT’s NPR member radio station WUOT, first requested access in April 2023 to documents related to TVA’s secretive economic incentive grants to cryptocurrency companies.

She was investigating cryptocurrency mining operations, giant computer systems that suck up electricity but don’t create many jobs.

Digital currencies like Bitcoin must be “mined” by a large network of computers that solve complex calculations to create coins and verify transactions. Mines have cropped up around East Tennessee, attracted by inexpensive power and loose zoning restrictions, a Knox News investigation found in 2022. They are noisy and often unpopular with nearby residents.

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