Operator of North Texas bitcoin mine found not guilty on 12 counts of noise citations

Star Telegram

By Noah Alcala Bach

Updated July 10, 2024 4:15 PM

 

The plant manager for a bitcoin mine and data center in unincorporated Hood County has been found not guilty on 12 counts of noise violations.

Defendant David Fischer, the plant manager for Marathon Digital — a multi billion dollar bitcoin mining operation out of Florida — was found not guilty by a jury on Tuesday.

Hood County attorney Matt Mills represented the residents and presented the noise citations.

“I’m disappointed for the victims in the case,” Mills told the Star-Telegram in a statement Wednesday. “The feedback I received from jurors is they believed it was an unreasonable noise. However, they had trouble connecting it with the individual defendant, David Fischer. Testimony was that he was the plant manager. But the jury’s questions revolved around how much control did he have over operations, and how much he could alleviate the noise problems.”

The case stemmed from noise citations written by Hood County constable John Shirley, who has recorded dozens of readings the past few months over 85 decibels, the state’s threshold for which noise is considered unreasonable.

The case revolved around citations addressed specifically to Fisher, not Marathon Digital.

Bob Gill and Miles Brissette, the defendant’s attorney, said the reading conducted by Shirley were improper and inflated.

Gill said that the noise caused by the mine and data center was not improper because it was coming from a permitted industrial site.

The attorneys also said David Fischer was not the proper person to cite and added that it is up to the county and Mills if they want to cite Marathon Digital.

Residents have complained of increased health issues, blaming it on the mine’s non stop noise and also expressed concern’s about the impact the operation could have on the state’s power grid and the environment.

Fort Worth based law firm Gill & Brissette represented Marathon Digital and David Fischer in the case. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the verdict but did reach out to notify a Star-Telegram reporter of the verdict Tuesday afternoon.

Representatives for Marathon Digital were not immediately available for comment. The company said in previous interview that it is working to make the operation quieter. It said it was the least remote bitcoin operation it has in Texas.

Staff Writer James Hartley contributed to this report

This story was originally published July 10, 2024, 2:15 PM.