Donna King says she smells burning rubber wafting around her Nesquehoning home every day.
“I always just thought it was somebody burning plastic. I never realized that it was more than likely coming from the plant … You have all these questions in your mind about it, and you just don't connect the dots until you come to a meeting like this,” said King at the Nesquehoning Recreational Center on Thursday night.
“And then you start thinking, ‘Oh, my goodness, is this coming from the plant that I could see right out my living room window?’ So, it's concerning," she said.
King lives in Hauto Valley Estates, about a mile away from the Panther Creek Electric Generating Facility, which burns waste coal and tires to generate electricity to mine for cryptocurrency.
She spoke at her first Save Carbon County meeting after finding a flyer about possible air pollution from the plant in her mailbox.
“It was very concerning [to learn about] the tires burning … And there's kids in the neighborhood, there's older people in the neighborhood. You just want to live in a nice, clean environment,” said King.
Save Carbon, a grassroots environmental organization, sued the plant and its owners back in March 2024 for alleged air and water pollution. Organizers held Thursday’s meeting to update community members on the lawsuit and to ask for additional eyewitness testimony of signs of environmental degredation.
Lawsuit status
At the time the lawsuit was filed, Stronghold Digital Mining owned the plant. Stronghold was bought out by Bitfarms, a Canadian-based Bitcoin mining company in March 2025 for $175 million. The acquisition includes Panther Creek, the Scrubgrass Generating Plant in Venango County and a pipeline.
Save Carbon attorney Zachary Feinberg said the case will hold Bitfarms responsible for what occurred at the plant before it purchased Stronghold. However, Bitfarms has not been formally brought into the lawsuit at this time.
Bitfarms did not respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit or their plans for Panther Creek.
Feinberg said the case is still in the initial motion stage, but the goal is to get before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
For the past four years King has lived by the plant, she said she has been able to see a white plume of steam from the plant every day from her living room window.
Sometimes, while she works in her yard, she said the plume envelops her in a white haze. She shared she worries what she and her neighbors might be breathing in.
“I'm concerned that there weren't more people here, especially from my neighborhood,” said King. There’s around 120 homes in Hauto Estates. “That's a lot of residents that are going to be affected by this … I'm kind of shocked that there aren't more people here, and they're not aware of what's going on in our own neighborhood.”
Around 25 people came to the meeting, which organizers say was their best turnout since late 2023.
Shapiro Administration named in 2024 suit
Save Carbon also argues Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration financed Panther Creek’s ability to pollute the environment through cryptocurrency mining with taxpayer dollars.
Stronghold received over $29 million in tax credits from the state over two years, according to the lawsuit. Shapiro, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Acting DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and the Commonwealth were named in the case.
The environmentalists claim Stronghold polluted the environment with 6 million tons of CO2 per year while advertising itself as using renewable energy to receive tax credits.
The lawsuit alleges Stronghold did not send electricity generated by waste coal to the grid, so it was ineligible to receive tax credits.
It also demands Stronghold pay monetary damages to nearby residents. Save Carbon’s lawyers at Freiwald Law cite that Stronghold’s 2024 emissions were four times the emissions at Panther Creek pre-2021, before Stronghold acquired the property.
Panther Creek received 23 environmental safety violations since Stronghold took over in 2021. 19 of those violations are for air pollution. That data comes from the DEP’s eFACTS website.
There are no additional violations listed at Panther Creek since Bitfarms took over.
Stronghold CEO Greg Beard responded to allegations in the suit when interviewed by WVIA News in April 2024. He said the plant in Nesquehoning regularly gives electricity to the grid.
State officials have previously said they would not comment on the pending litigation.
Tire burning, cryptomining, AI and data centers in focus
Residents at Thursday’s meeting questioned whether pollution from burning tires could expose them to lead and endanger students at the nearby Panther Valley Elementary School.
Linda Christman, Save Carbon’s president, also criticized Bitfarms’ plans to build a data center at the power plant.
Christman said based on her research she believes the center will require “massive amounts" of energy, and will take in large quantities of water to cool down their computers. She worries how the Lehigh River and its aquatic life would be affected if that heated water is discharged back into the river.
Without further information from Bitfarms, those things are not yet known.
Council president's role questioned
Christman also questioned Borough Council President David Hawk’s involvement with Panther Creek as its plant manager.
“We want to be respectful, but we want them (borough council) to know that we are paying attention to what decisions they are making,” Christman said.
In an email, Hawk said he has been on borough council since 2004 and has served as its president since 2014. He is also the water authority’s treasurer.
“My current term (as borough president) is expiring this year, and I am planning on running for re-election in this year’s general election in November as I am registered as an Independent and did not run in the primary election,” Hawk said via email.
He said he has worked in various positions with Panther Creek since 1992.
“I have recused myself from any official action of Council on matters pertaining to Panther Creek,” he wrote.
“This includes relinquishing the gavel/chairing of the meeting to the Council Vice President during portions of Council meetings where there were any discussions or hearing of visitors pertaining to Panther Creek,” Hawk said.
Where to address concerns
Christman said residents will be able to speak out about the center’s potential environmental impact at future meetings of the Delaware River Basin Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Nesquehoning Borough Council and Nesquehoning Borough Water Authority as Bitfarms goes through the permitting process to build the data center.
Those with concerns about environmental issues at the plant in the meanwhile have avenues for sharing them, Christman said, including contacting the DEP’s environmental complaint hotline if they smell burning rubber or see other possible signs of pollution from the plant.
“That is why it is extremely important that if you smell tires or see smoke or haze, you report it. …If we get enough complaints, maybe they'll revoke the permit,” Christman said.
