Residents around Seneca Lake have been sounding the alarm for their drinking water. Their worries follow an explosion and fire at the Greenridge Generation bitcoin mining facility. The bitcoin mining facility in the former coal power plant. It may be a small facility, but it’s located just outside of Dresden village, right on the beautiful shores of Seneca Lake.

Local residents like John Lanni and Gary McIntee express concerns about a potential future where they are forced to drink contaminated water as a result of Greenridge Generation’s actions. They have organized for more oversight and transparency, to pay for a public water system that will guarantee our water is pure all the time.

Gary McIntee, who recently spent nearly $4,800 on a new filtering system after continually being told his water was fine.

"When there's a HAB (harmful algae bloom) outbreak, you can't even take a shower." - Gary McIntee

A recent incident with foamy pollution on Seneca Lake around the facility added to these concerns.

"Everybody who takes water out of this lake has a different quality standard. If you can afford better, you do better. If you can't afford better, you don't get better, so it's an uneven distribution of how people actually consume water when it's the sole source." - John Lanni

As we wrote in our last blog post, first responders were able to contain the spill before it reached Seneca Lake. Still, the incident has left residents uneasy.

"There are some people who saw odd foam on the lake," - Gary McIntee

"We were associating it possibly with the spill. We don't know for sure if it was associated with the spill, but let us know. We draw our water from here." - Gary McIntee

Lanni noted with the lake being a potential repository of contaminants, this is of particular concern during the summer months when recreational use peaks.

"I think that the oversight from the DEC could certainly be a bit better," - John Lanni

Both McIntee and Lanni are calling on Greenridge to provide greater transparency around its operations and their environmental impacts.

"I think that there are contaminants that get in the lake. I mean, it's getting toward the summer season. People are in the lake, animals are in the lake," - John Lanni

Both McIntee and Lanni are urging Greenridge to be more transparent about its operations and potential environmental impacts.

"You're risking your health, so that's why I keep advocating for safe water and some transparency from Greenridge when there's an issue like what happened recently." - Gary McIntee

Greenridge Generation has not responded to requests for comment.