The Sound of Mining: When the Neighbors Sue

What Happened

Near Granbury, Texas, residents living close to a large mining site at the Wolf Hollow gas plant sued Marathon Digital in 2024. Their complaint described constant noise and low frequency vibration, sleep loss, and health complaints. County constables issued citations under the Texas noise standard of 85 decibels. In May 2026 a second suit followed in federal court, with nine property owners seeking at least $1 million.

The company has described a series of changes at the site. According to its statements, it deactivated 95 air cooled containers, built a sound wall covering nearly half the site, converted about two thirds of its capacity to immersion cooling, and cites testing in the 63 to 78 decibel range.

In eastern Tennessee, a county sued over a mine that opened near homes in 2021. Residents collected more than 2,500 signatures, county commissioners voted down a proposed settlement, and the dispute ran for years. In Arkansas, residents near Greenbrier sued a mine operator over what they described as a constant whining noise that kept them awake, and a judge denied a motion to dismiss the case.

Where the Noise Comes From

In an air cooled mining site the sound comes from fans, tens of thousands of them. A single air cooled Antminer moves air with fans spinning at several thousand RPM, and a 100 megawatt site can hold around 30,000 machines. Container exhaust fans add to that. In open country the combined sound can carry a long way, especially at night, and the low frequency part travels farthest.

Enterprise data centers have long used setbacks, berms, acoustic screening, and siting studies to manage community noise. I wrote more about what carries over in Data Centers vs. Mining Sites.

How Noise Gets Measured

A decibel reading depends on how it was taken. Where the meter stands, the time of day, wind and weather, and background sound all change the number. So does frequency weighting. The common A weighting reduces the influence of low frequencies to match how people hear speech, while C weighting keeps more of the low end. Residents who describe vibration and a low hum are often describing the part of the sound that A weighted readings capture least.

In Granbury, constables issued citations under the 85 decibel Texas standard, while the company cites testing in the 63 to 78 decibel range. Readings taken at different spots, times, or weightings can differ.

Issues This Case Raises

• Acoustic studies and timing. Some operators commission acoustic surveys during site selection; others address noise after operations begin. Parties can disagree on what was known about likely noise before a site was built.
• Meeting a standard versus a nuisance claim. Parties in these cases have taken different positions on whether meeting a numeric limit resolves a noise complaint. In Arkansas the residents' case continued past a motion to dismiss.
• Mitigation tradeoffs. Immersion conversion changes cooling, maintenance, firmware settings, and warranty terms Whether retrofits like those described at Granbury resolve the claims is a question the pending federal suit may address.

Noise is not the only kind of local dispute a mining site can face, as the Niagara Falls zoning fights show. Questions about how a site was designed, cooled, and measured come up in disputes like these, and they are among the topics on the bitcoin mining expert witness page.