Inside the 'Nightmare' Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town
O n an evening in December 2023, 43-year-old small business owner Sarah Rosenkranz collapsed in her home in Granbury, Texas and was rushed to the emergency room.
2023 年 12 月的一个晚上，43 岁的小企业主莎拉·罗森克兰兹 (Sarah Rosenkranz) 在德克萨斯州格兰伯里的家中倒下，被紧急送往急诊室。
Her heart pounded 200 beats per minute; her blood pressure spiked into hypertensive crisis; her skull throbbed.
她的心跳每分钟200次；她的血压飙升至高血压危象；她的头骨一阵阵抽痛。
“It felt like my head was in a pressure vise being crushed,” she says.
“感觉就像我的头被虎钳压碎了，”她说。
“That pain was worse than childbirth.”
“那种痛苦比生孩子还要痛苦。”
Rosenkranz’s migraine lasted for five days.
罗森克兰茨的偏头痛持续了五天。
Doctors gave her several rounds of IV medication and painkiller shots, but nothing seemed to knock down the pain, she says.
她说，医生给她注射了几轮静脉注射药物和止痛药，但似乎没有什么能减轻疼痛。
This was odd, especially because local doctors were similarly vexed when Indigo, Rosenkranz’s 5-year-old daughter, was taken to urgent care earlier that year, screaming that she felt a “red beam behind her eardrums.”
这很奇怪，尤其是当罗森克兰茨 5 岁的女儿英迪格 (Indigo) 今年早些时候被送往紧急护理时，当地医生也同样感到烦恼，尖叫着说她感到“耳膜后面有一道红光”。
It didn’t occur to Sarah that these symptoms could be linked.
莎拉没有想到这些症状之间存在关联。
But in January 2024, she walked into a town hall in Granbury and found a room full of people worn thin from strange, debilitating illnesses.
但在 2024 年 1 月，她走进格兰伯里的市政厅，发现满屋子的人都因奇怪的、令人衰弱的疾病而变得瘦弱。
A mother said her 8-year-old daughter was losing her hearing and fluids were leaking from her ears.
一位母亲说，她 8 岁的女儿正在失去听力，并且耳朵里有液体流出。
Several women said they experienced fainting spells, including while driving on the highway.
几名女性表示，她们经历过晕厥，包括在高速公路上开车时。
Others said they were wracked by debilitating vertigo and nausea, waking up in the middle of the night mid-vomit.
其他人则表示，他们受到令人虚弱的眩晕和恶心的折磨，在半夜呕吐中醒来。
None of them knew what, exactly, was causing these symptoms.
他们都不知道到底是什么导致了这些症状。
But they all shared a singular grievance: a dull aural hum had crept into their lives, which growled or roared depending on the time of day, rattling their windows and rendering them unable to sleep.
但他们都有一个共同的不满：一种沉闷的嗡嗡声潜入了他们的生活，根据一天中的不同时间，这种嗡嗡声会咆哮或咆哮，敲响窗户，让他们无法入睡。
The hum, local law enforcement had learned, was emanating from a Bitcoin mining facility that had recently moved into the area—and was exceeding legal noise ordinances on a daily basis.
当地执法部门了解到，这种嗡嗡声是从最近搬入该地区的比特币采矿设施发出的，并且每天都超出了法定噪音条例。
Over the course of several months in 2024, TIME spoke to more than 40 people in the Granbury area who reported a medical ailment that they believe is connected to the arrival of the Bitcoin mine: hypertension, heart palpitations, chest pain, vertigo, tinnitus, migraines, panic attacks.
在 2024 年的几个月里，《时代周刊》采访了格兰伯里地区的 40 多人，他们报告了一种他们认为与比特币矿场的到来有关的疾病：高血压、心悸、胸痛、眩晕、耳鸣、偏头痛、惊恐发作。
At least 10 people went to urgent care or the emergency room with these symptoms.
至少有 10 人因出现这些症状而前往紧急护理或急诊室。
The development of large-scale Bitcoin mines and data centers is quite new, and most of them are housed in extremely remote places.
大型比特币矿场和数据中心的发展是相当新的，而且大多数都位于极其偏远的地方。
There have been no major medical studies on the impacts of living near one.
目前还没有关于住在附近的影响的重大医学研究。
But there is an increasing body of scientific studies linking prolonged exposure to noise pollution with cardiovascular damage.
但越来越多的科学研究将长期暴露在噪音污染中与心血管损伤联系起来。
And one local doctor—ears, nose, and throat specialist Salim Bhaloo—says he sees patients with symptoms potentially stemming from the Bitcoin mine’s noise on an almost weekly basis.
当地一位医生——耳鼻喉科专家萨利姆·巴鲁(Salim Bhaloo)——表示，他几乎每周都会看到出现可能由比特币矿场噪音引起的症状的患者。
Cheryl Shadden’s homemade signs on her property across the street from the mine.
谢丽尔·沙登 (Cheryl Shadden) 在矿井对面的房产上挂着自制的标牌。
“I’m sure it increases their cortisol and sugar levels, so you’re getting headaches, vertigo, and it snowballs from there,” Bhaloo says.
“我确信这会增加他们的皮质醇和糖水平，所以你会感到头痛、眩晕，而且情况会像滚雪球一样越滚越大，”巴鲁说。
“This thing is definitely causing a tremendous amount of stress.
“这件事肯定会造成巨大的压力。
Everyone is just miserable about it.”
每个人都为此感到痛苦。”
Not all data centers make noise.
并非所有数据中心都会产生噪音。
And industry insiders say they have a technical fix for the ones that do, which involves replacing their facilities’ loud air fans with much quieter liquid-based cooling solutions.
业内人士表示，他们有一个技术解决方案来解决这些问题，其中包括用更安静的液体冷却解决方案取代其设施中吵闹的风扇。
But some of their touted methods, including “immersion cooling” in oil, are expensive and untested on a large scale.
但他们吹捧的一些方法，包括油中的“浸入式冷却”，价格昂贵且未经大规模测试。
A representative for Marathon Digital Holdings, the company that owns the mine, did not answer questions about health impacts, but told TIME that it is working to remove the noisy fans from the site.
拥有该矿场的马拉松数字控股公司的一名代表没有回答有关健康影响的问题，但告诉《时代》杂志，他们正在努力将吵闹的风扇从现场清除。
“By the end of 2024, we intend to have replaced the majority of air-cooled containers with immersion cooling, with no expansion required.
“到 2024 年底，我们打算用浸没式冷却取代大部分风冷容器，无需扩建。
Initial sound readings on immersion containers indicate favorable results in sound reduction and compliance with all relevant state noise ordinances,” they wrote in an email.
浸没容器上的初始声音读数表明，在降噪方面取得了良好的效果，并且符合所有相关的国家噪音法规，”他们在一封电子邮件中写道。
The number of commercial-scale Bitcoin mining operations in the U.S. has increased sharply over the last few years; there are now at least 137 .
过去几年，美国商业规模的比特币挖矿业务数量急剧增加；现在至少有137个。
Similar medical complaints have been registered near facilities in Arkansas and North Dakota.
阿肯色州和北达科他州的设施附近也出现了类似的医疗投诉。
And the Bitcoin mining industry is urgently trying to push bills through state legislatures, including in Indiana and Missouri , which would exempt Bitcoin mines from local zoning or noise ordinances.
比特币采矿业正在紧急尝试通过州立法机构（包括印第安纳州和密苏里州）推动法案，该法案将使比特币矿场免受当地分区或噪音条例的影响。
In May, Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signed a “Bitcoin Rights” bill to protect miners and prevent any future attempts to ban the industry.
五月，俄克拉荷马州州长凯文·斯蒂特签署了一项“比特币权利”法案，以保护矿工并防止未来任何禁止该行业的企图。
While some Granbury residents are fiercely protesting the mine, many others feel powerless to alter the will of a company with legal, political, and financial might.
虽然一些格兰伯里居民强烈抗议该矿，但许多其他人感到无力改变一家拥有法律、政治和财务实力的公司的意愿。
And the data center industry at large is only growing more dominant, thanks to the twin forces of Bitcoin mining and AI, the latter which spends a vast amount of energy training generative models to find patterns in data sets.
由于比特币挖矿和人工智能的双重力量，整个数据中心行业只会变得更加占主导地位，后者花费了大量的精力训练生成模型来寻找数据集中的模式。
According to a recent repor t, data centers will use 8% of total U.S. power by 2030, up from 3% in 2022.
根据最近的一份报告，到 2030 年，数据中心将使用美国总电力的 8%，高于 2022 年的 3%。
And if operators continue to locate the centers near existing communities and prioritize profits above all else, then the story of Granbury could become the story of countless small towns across America.
如果运营商继续将中心设在现有社区附近，并将利润放在首位，那么格兰伯里的故事可能会成为美国无数小镇的故事。
Granbury sits about an hour southwest of Fort Worth in Hood County, which houses a mostly rural and Republican population of about 65,000 people.
格兰伯里位于胡德县沃斯堡西南约一小时车程处，该县居住着约 65,000 人，大部分为农村人口和共和党人。
About a 15-minute drive south of Granbury’s charming historic town center—which includes a 19th-century opera house—lies a gas plant called Wolf Hollow II.
格兰伯里 (Granbury) 迷人的历史城镇中心（这里有一座 19 世纪的歌剧院）以南约 15 分钟车程处，坐落着一家名为 Wolf Hollow II 的天然气工厂。
Driving toward the plant on a windy, predawn morning in May, it rises out of the sky like an oil rig in a pitch-black ocean, lights ablaze.
五月黎明前一个刮风的早晨，我们开车驶向工厂，它像漆黑海洋中的石油钻井平台一样从天空中升起，灯火通明。
But the glowing gas plant never caused substantial issues for the local residents.
但发光的天然气厂从未给当地居民造成重大问题。
Rather, the problems started when Constellation Energy, which operated the plant, signed a deal in 2021 to power a new Bitcoin mining facility that would sit directly on its lot.
相反，当运营该工厂的星座能源公司 (Constellation Energy) 在 2021 年签署一项协议，为直接位于其场地上的一个新的比特币采矿设施提供电力时，问题就开始了。
The new facility consisted of 163 squat metal boxes resembling shipping containers, which housed a total of over 30,000 computers .
新设施由 163 个类似于海运集装箱的矮矮金属箱组成，总共容纳了 30,000 多台计算机。
These computers started running in the summer of 2022, and seemed to be switched on all day and night.
这些计算机于 2022 年夏天开始运行，似乎昼夜不停地开着。
As of December 2023, the Granbury mine is owned by Marathon, one of the largest Bitcoin holders in the world.
截至 2023 年 12 月，格兰伯里矿场归 Marathon 所有，Marathon 是世界上最大的比特币持有者之一。
Constable John Shirley, a former Oath Keeper, has been focused on keeping the mine accountable.
前誓言守护者约翰·雪利警官一直致力于让矿场负起责任。
Shirley takes sound readings near the Wolf Hollow data site on May 20, 2024.
2024 年 5 月 20 日，雪莉在 Wolf Hollow 数据站点附近获取声音读数。
The computers power a process called proof-of-work mining.
计算机为称为工作量证明挖矿的过程提供动力。
Rather than relying on a central bank or governmental agency, Bitcoin is created, maintained, and guarded by watchdogs around the world known as miners, who prevent tampering through a complex cryptographic process and are rewarded with bitcoin for doing so.
比特币不是依赖中央银行或政府机构，而是由世界各地被称为矿工的监管机构创建、维护和保护，他们通过复杂的加密过程防止篡改，并因此获得比特币奖励。
Bitcoin’s first supporters hoped that this new system would support a global digital currency that would bring freedom, financial fairness, and wealth to its adopters.
比特币的第一批支持者希望这个新系统能够支持一种全球数字货币，为其采用者带来自由、金融公平和财富。
But the system also requires an immense and ever-increasing amount of electricity.
但该系统也需要大量且不断增加的电力。
While Bitcoin’s first miners were solo operators often working out of their bedrooms, the industry is now dominated by a handful of billion-dollar corporations who operate industrial-size server farms across the globe.
虽然比特币的第一批矿工是经常在卧室工作的独立运营商，但该行业现在由少数价值数十亿美元的公司主导，他们在全球运营着工业规模的服务器场。
In the month of March 2024 alone, the Bitcoin mining industry generated a record $2 billion in revenue.
仅 2024 年 3 月一个月，比特币挖矿业就创造了创纪录的 20 亿美元收入。
Much of the American Bitcoin mining industry can now be found in Texas, home to giant power plants, lax regulation, and crypto-friendly politicians.
美国的比特币采矿业现在大部分都在德克萨斯州，那里有巨型发电厂、宽松的监管和对加密货币友好的政客。
In October 2021, Governor Greg Abbott hosted the lobbying group Texas Blockchain Council at the governor’s mansion.
2021 年 10 月，州长格雷格·阿博特 (Greg Abbott) 在州长官邸接待了游说团体德克萨斯州区块链委员会。
The group insisted that their industry would help the state’s overtaxed energy grid; that during energy crises, miners would be one of the few energy customers able to shut off upon request, provided that they were paid in exchange.
该组织坚称，他们的行业将有助于该州负担过重的能源网；在能源危机期间，矿工将成为少数能够根据要求关闭的能源客户之一，前提是他们获得报酬。
After meeting with the lobbyists, Abbott tweeted that Texas would soon be the “#1 [state] for blockchain & cryptocurrency.” The following month, the Commissioners Court of Hood County approved the development of a cryptocurrency operation at Wolf Hollow.
在与游说者会面后，阿博特在推特上表示，德克萨斯州将很快成为“区块链和加密货币的第一州”。下个月，胡德县专员法院批准在 Wolf Hollow 开展加密货币业务。
The owners promised local jobs and said that they would mostly use “stranded energy” that would otherwise go unused.
业主承诺为当地提供就业机会，并表示他们将主要使用“滞留能源”，否则这些能源将无法使用。
For months during 2022, Granbury residents Nick and Virginia Browning sat in their front yard watching the new metal boxes of the massive facility be installed in the dirt across the road.
2022 年的几个月里，格兰伯里居民尼克·布朗宁 (Nick Browning) 和弗吉尼亚·布朗宁 (Virginia Browning) 坐在前院，看着这个大型设施的新金属箱安装在马路对面的泥土中。
“It layered our houses with dust.
“我们的房子上布满了灰尘。
We haven’t gotten it all out yet,” Nick Browning, 82, says.
我们还没有完全解决这个问题，”82 岁的尼克·布朗宁 (Nick Browning) 说道。
The dust, it turns out, was just a prelude to the noise.
事实证明，灰尘只是噪音的前奏。
In order to cool the machines, the site’s operators attached thousands of fans to the containers, which churned constantly, emitting a vicious buzz.
为了冷却机器，该站点的操作员在集装箱上安装了数千个风扇，这些风扇不断搅拌，发出恶毒的嗡嗡声。
As more machines were switched on, the noise sounded like a ceiling fan, then a leaf blower, then a jet engine.
随着越来越多的机器启动，噪音听起来像是吊扇的声音，然后是吹叶机的声音，然后是喷气发动机的声音。
It consumed afternoon dog walks and revved through cloudless nights, vibrating the trailer homes of many of the low-income residents who live blocks from the facility.
它消耗了下午的遛狗时间，并在万里无云的夜晚加速行驶，震动了许多居住在距该设施几个街区的低收入居民的拖车屋。
The noise floated miles down the winding Brazos river, through the lush golf courses in the gated community Pecan Plantation and past county lines.
噪音沿着蜿蜒的布拉索斯河顺流而下数英里，穿过封闭社区山核桃种植园郁郁葱葱的高尔夫球场，越过县界。
At first, residents responded to the intrusion by vacating their porches, retreating inside, and turning up their fans and air conditioners to the max.
起初，居民对入侵的反应是腾出门廊，退到室内，并将风扇和空调开到最大。
But many still felt tremors in their beds—including Larry Potts, a 77-year-old retired pastor who lives up the road from the plant.
但许多人仍然感到床上颤抖，其中包括住在工厂附近的 77 岁退休牧师拉里·波茨 (Larry Potts)。
Potts says he stopped sleeping and started losing hearing in both ears.
波茨说他不再睡觉，双耳开始失去听力。
In February, his heart gave out after another sleepless night; he was rushed to the hospital and kept alive by an external pacemaker.
二月份，他又经历了一个不眠之夜，心脏衰竭了。他被紧急送往医院，并通过外部起搏器维持生命。
There, he was diagnosed with third degree atrioventricular block, hypertension, and depression.
在那里，他被诊断出患有三度房室传导阻滞、高血压和抑郁症。
Larry Potts at his home in Granbury, Texas.
拉里·波茨在德克萨斯州格兰伯里的家中。
He suffered from heart failure in February.
他二月份患了心力衰竭。
“I’m sick of this world and all this mess around here,” he says he told his wife that day, referring to the Bitcoin mine’s noise.
“我厌倦了这个世界和这里的一切混乱，”他说那天他告诉妻子，指的是比特币矿场的噪音。
“We moved out here for the peace and quiet.
“我们搬到这里是为了安静。
But this has made me want to go.”
但这让我想去。”
Some nearby residents say they haven’t been affected.
附近的一些居民表示，他们没有受到影响。
But the number of strange medical emergencies in the area have piled up.
但该地区奇怪的医疗紧急事件数量却不断增加。
In addition to Potts’ discharge papers, TIME reviewed medical records provided by several Granbury residents.
除了波茨的出院文件外，《时代》杂志还审查了几位格兰伯里居民提供的医疗记录。
Hospital notes from 72-year-old Geraldine Lathers’ three-day stay document new prescriptions for high blood pressure and vertigo.
72 岁的杰拉尔丁·拉瑟斯 (Geraldine Lathers) 三天住院记录记录了治疗高血压和眩晕的新处方。
Jenna Hornbuckle, 38, lost hearing in her right ear and was diagnosed with heart failure; ear exams document her hearing loss along with that of her 8-year-old daughter Victoria, who contracted ear infections that forced doctors to place a tube in her ear.
38 岁的珍娜·霍恩巴克尔 (Jenna Hornbuckle) 右耳丧失听力，并被诊断出患有心力衰竭；耳朵检查显示她和她 8 岁的女儿维多利亚都有听力损失，维多利亚感染了耳部感染，迫使医生在她的耳朵里放了一根管子。
And Avari Burns, a 19-year-old cancer patient, says she suffered from crippling migraines at home—but whenever she went to a Fort Worth hospital for chemotherapy, the migraines subsided.
19 岁的癌症患者阿瓦里·伯恩斯 (Avari Burns) 表示，她在家中患有严重的偏头痛，但每当她去沃斯堡医院接受化疗时，偏头痛就会消退。
Virginia Browning, 81, who can see the Bitcoin mine from her front yard, says she was taken to urgent care with violent vertigo after waking up one night mid-vomit.
81 岁的维吉尼亚·布朗宁 (Virginia Browning) 从她的前院就能看到比特币矿场，她说，一天晚上她在呕吐中醒来后，出现剧烈眩晕，被送往紧急护理机构。
Browning says she gets so dizzy she can barely walk in a straight line, and that she rarely sleeps through the night.
布朗宁说，她头晕得几乎无法走直线，而且很少整夜睡觉。
"When they crank this thing,” she says shakily, “I’m wide awake.”
“当他们启动这个东西时，”她颤抖着说，“我完全清醒了。”
“We’re living in a nightmare,” Sarah Rosenkranz says, sitting at a barbecue restaurant in downtown Granbury on an evening in May.
五月的一个晚上，莎拉·罗森克兰兹 (Sarah Rosenkranz) 坐在格兰伯里市中心的一家烧烤餐厅里说道：“我们生活在一场噩梦中。”
As rock music blares from the speakers and other patrons chatter away, Rosenkranz pulls out her phone and clocks 72 decibels on a sound meter app—the same level that she records in Indigo’s bedroom in the dead of night.
随着扬声器中传出刺耳的摇滚音乐和其他顾客的闲聊声，Rosenkranz 拿出手机，在声压计应用程序上测出 72 分贝的声音，这与她深夜在 Indigo 的卧室中记录的水平相同。
In early 2023, her daughter began waking up, yelling and holding her ears.
2023年初，她的女儿开始醒来，捂着耳朵大喊大叫。
Indigo’s room directly faces the mine, which sits about a mile and a half away.
靛蓝的房间正对着矿井，距离矿井大约一英里半。
She soon refused to sleep in her own room.
她很快就拒绝睡在自己的房间里。
She then developed so many ear infections that Rosenkranz pulled her from school in March and learned how to homeschool her for the rest of the semester.
然后，她出现了严重的耳朵感染，以至于罗森克兰茨在三月份将她从学校退学，并学习如何在本学期剩下的时间里在家教育她。
Over grilled salmon and hush puppies, Rosenkranz shares that her family has been sleeping peacefully at an inn downtown for the last three days in order to get away from the noise.
吃着烤鲑鱼和油炸玉米饼，罗森克兰兹分享说，为了远离噪音，过去三天她的家人一直在市中心的一家旅馆里安静地睡觉。
But the next morning, after returning home, she contracts yet another migraine that lands her in urgent care.
但第二天早上，回家后，她又患上了偏头痛，需要紧急护理。
Dr. Bhaloo, the ENT doctor in Granbury, says he’s seen an uptick since the new year in patients whose ailments—including ringing in their ears, vertigo, and headaches—could be related to the mine.
格兰伯里的耳鼻喉科医生巴鲁博士说，自新年以来，他发现患有耳鸣、眩晕和头痛等疾病的患者数量有所增加，这些疾病可能与地雷有关。
“These people here, they’re good country folks, and Bitcoin, to them, is almost a foreign alien thing,” he says.
“这里的这些人都是善良的乡下人，而比特币对他们来说几乎是一个陌生的东西，”他说。
“They don’t understand it.
“他们不明白。
And [the noise] is detrimental to their health and anxiety.” Dr. Stephen Krzeminski, another Granbury ENT, agrees.
而且[噪音]对他们的健康和焦虑有害。”另一位格兰伯里耳鼻喉科医师史蒂芬·科泽明斯基 (Stephen Krzeminski) 博士对此表示同意。
“Sonic damage is real, there’s no disputing that,” he says.
“声波伤害是真实存在的，这是毫无争议的，”他说。
Krzeminski says he believes the mine is causing “mental and physical” health issues.
克热明斯基表示，他认为该矿正在造成“精神和身体”健康问题。
“Imagine if I had vuvuzela in your ear all the time,” he says.
“想象一下，如果我一直在你耳边发出呜呜祖拉声，”他说。
Trailer homes residing right next to the mine.
拖车房就位于矿井旁边。
Jake Dockins for TIME The level of noise is appalling to Dr. Thomas Münzel, a German cardiologist who is a leader in the growing field of scientific researchers measuring the impact of urban and industrial noise on humans.
德国心脏病专家托马斯·穆泽尔 (Thomas Münzel) 博士对噪音水平感到震惊，他是衡量城市和工业噪音对人类影响的科学研究领域的领军人物。
For the last 15 years, Münzel has studied how transportation and urban noise, especially at night, can be debilitating stressors on the heart, brain, and cardiovascular systems.
在过去 15 年里，Münzel 研究了交通和城市噪音（尤其是夜间）如何对心脏、大脑和心血管系统造成压力源。
In one study, he exposed young, healthy students to noise events up to 63 decibels, and found that their vascular function diminished after just a single night.
在一项研究中，他让年轻、健康的学生暴露在高达 63 分贝的噪音环境中，结果发现他们的血管功能在仅仅一个晚上后就减弱了。
In other studies, he’s found that nighttime noise pollution directly leads to heart failure and molecular changes in the brain, which may lead to impaired cognitive development of children and make some people more prone to developing dementia.
在其他研究中，他发现夜间噪音污染直接导致心力衰竭和大脑分子变化，这可能会导致儿童认知发展受损，并使一些人更容易患上痴呆症。
“The European Environmental Agency tells us that everything above 55 decibels is making us sick,” he says.
“欧洲环境署告诉我们，任何超过 55 分贝的声音都会让我们生病，”他说。
The fact that the Granbury Bitcoin mine is emitting 70 or even 90 decibels on a nightly basis is “like torture,” he says.
他说，格兰伯里比特币矿每晚发出 70 甚至 90 分贝的噪音“就像酷刑”。
“The most spectacular cardiovascular diseases will develop.
“最引人注目的心血管疾病将会出现。
They have to stop the machines.”
他们必须停止机器。”
Health effects have the potential to extend past the human residents of Granbury.
健康影响有可能波及格兰伯里的人类居民。
Studies have shown that man-made noise pollution harms animals and wildlife, causing oxidative stress and memory loss in rodents, acute anxiety in dogs, and a decrease in forest growth .
研究表明，人为噪音污染会伤害动物和野生动物，导致啮齿动物氧化应激和记忆丧失、狗的急性焦虑以及森林生长的减少。
Shenice Copenhaver’s dog, Persephone, started going bald and developed debilitating anxiety shortly after the Bitcoin mine began operating four blocks away.
在四个街区外的比特币矿场开始运营后不久，Shenice Copenhaver 的狗 Persephone 就开始秃头，并出现令人衰弱的焦虑症。
Directly next door, Tom Weeks’ dog Jack Rabbit Slim started shaking and hyperventilating uncontrollably for hours on end; a vet placed him on the seizure medication Gabapentin.
就在隔壁，汤姆·威克斯 (Tom Weeks) 的狗杰克·兔子·斯利姆 (Jack Rabbit Slim) 开始连续几个小时无法控制地颤抖和过度换气；兽医给他开了癫痫药物加巴喷丁。
Rosenkranz’s chickens stopped laying eggs for months.
罗森克兰兹的鸡已经停止产蛋数月了。
And Jerry and Patricia Campbell’s centuries-old oak tree, which had served as the family’s hub and protector for generations of backyard family reunions and even a wedding, died suddenly three months ago.
杰瑞和帕特里夏·坎贝尔的百年橡树在三个月前突然枯死，这棵橡树曾是家庭几代人后院家庭团聚甚至婚礼的中心和保护者。
It’s nearly impossible to prove the Bitcoin mine directly caused the afflictions of these specific animals and plants.
几乎不可能证明比特币矿场直接导致了这些特定动植物的苦难。
But as the strange anecdotes collect, they’ve added to the stress of a town that feels under siege from all directions.
但随着奇怪的轶事不断收集，它们给这座被四面八方围困的小镇增添了压力。
“I’ve lived in Texas all my life and I’ve never seen an oak tree be beautiful one year and die the next,” Jerry Campbell says on his lawn, beneath the tree’s gnarled, blackened limbs.
“我一生都住在德克萨斯州，我从来没有见过一棵橡树，这一年很美丽，第二年就枯萎了，”杰里·坎贝尔在他的草坪上，在树粗糙、发黑的树枝下说道。
“It’s so strange.”
“太奇怪了。”
Hood County Constable John Shirley has spent months trying to find his own solutions to a problem that at times seems supernatural.
胡德县警员约翰·雪利花了几个月的时间试图找到自己的解决方案来解决有时看似超自然的问题。
As a former member of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy against the U.S. government, Shirley is a somewhat divisive figure in the town.
雪莉是极右翼民兵组织“誓言守护者”的前成员，该组织的领导人因阴谋煽动反对美国政府而被定罪，雪莉在该镇是一个颇有争议的人物。
But lately Shirley has been laser-focused on the mine—an issue he considers apolitical.
但最近雪莉把注意力集中在矿井上——他认为这个问题与政治无关。
“When you’ve got Greenpeace supporting the same cause as a former Oath Keeper, what weird episode of the Twilight Zone are we in?” he says, chuckling darkly.
“当绿色和平组织支持与前誓言守护者相同的事业时，我们处于暮光区的什么奇怪情节中？”他阴暗地笑道。
(Shirley resigned from the Oath Keepers before Jan.
（雪莉在一月之前从誓言守护者中辞职。
6, 2021, due to “serious concerns” with the direction of the organization, he says.)
他说，由于对组织方向的“严重担忧”，2021 年 12 月 6 日。）
Shenice Copenhaver’s dog, Persephone, started going bald and developed anxiety shortly after the mine began operating four blocks away.
四个街区外的矿井开始运营后不久，谢尼丝·哥本哈弗 (Shenice Copenhaver) 的狗珀尔塞福涅 (Persephone) 就开始秃顶并变得焦虑。
Jake Dockins for TIME On a listless May morning before the sun has risen, Shirley is sitting in his truck across the road from the mine.
五月的一个无精打采的早晨，太阳升起前，杰克·多金斯 (Jake Dockins) 坐在矿井对面的卡车里。
He is used to getting up at this hour, as he’s been taking decibel readings of the plant around the clock in order to write tickets against the mine’s operators for disorderly conduct.
他习惯在这个时间起床，因为他一直在全天候测量工厂的分贝读数，以便对矿场操作人员的扰乱行为开罚单。
Shirley sticks his recorder out the window and the numbers on it flicker up and down as the roar washes over it.
雪莉把他的录音机伸出窗外，上面的数字随着轰鸣声的冲刷而上下闪烁。
Eventually, the recorder caps out at 91 decibels, which the CDC estimates as roughly in between the output of a lawnmower and a chainsaw.
最终，录音机的噪音上限为 91 分贝，CDC 估计该噪音大致介于割草机和电锯之间。
This level of noise, the CDC writes, can cause hearing damage after two hours of exposure.
疾病预防控制中心写道，这种水平的噪音在暴露两个小时后可能会导致听力受损。
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration advises that employees can only work in 90-decibel settings for eight hours a day and are required to wear ear protection.
美国职业安全与健康管理局建议，员工每天只能在 90 分贝的环境中工作八小时，并且必须佩戴护耳器。
And Texas state penal code deems any noise above 85 decibels unreasonable.
德克萨斯州刑法认为任何超过 85 分贝的噪音都是不合理的。
Over the course of 2024, Shirley has recorded a noise above 85 decibels coming from the plant more than 35 times.
2024 年期间，Shirley 记录到该工厂发出超过 85 分贝的噪音超过 35 次。
Technically there is federal mandate to regulate noise, which stems from the 1972 Noise Control Act —but it was essentially de-funded during the Reagan administration.
从技术上讲，联邦有监管噪音的授权，这一授权源于 1972 年的《噪音控制法案》，但在里根政府期间该法案基本上被取消了资助。
This leaves noise regulation up to states, cities, and counties.
这使得噪音监管由州、市和县负责。
New York City, for instance, has a noise code which officially caps restaurant music and air conditioning at 42 decibels (as measured within a nearby residence).
例如，纽约市有一项噪音法规，正式将餐厅音乐和空调的噪音上限限制在 42 分贝（在附近住宅内测量）。
Texas’s 85 decibels , in contrast, is by far the loudest state limit in the nation, says Les Blomberg, the executive director of the nonprofit Noise Pollution Clearinghouse.
相比之下，德克萨斯州的 85 分贝是迄今为止全美最高的州限制，非营利性噪声污染信息交换所的执行董事莱斯·布隆伯格 (Les Blomberg) 表示。
“It is a level that protects noise polluters, not the noise polluted,” he says.
“这个水平保护的是噪音污染者，而不是被污染的噪音，”他说。
Ultimately, Constable John Shirley can’t stop the machines, because there is no state law forcing the operator of a noisy machine to turn it off.
最终，约翰·雪利警官无法停止这些机器，因为没有州法律强制噪音机器的操作员将其关闭。
When Shirley writes a ticket for disorderly conduct, it merely triggers a $500 fine, as opposed to jail time or another punitive measure.
当雪莉因扰乱治安行为开罚单时，只会触发 500 美元的罚款，而不是入狱或其他惩罚措施。
Hood County can’t even pass a relevant noise ordinance law: only Texas cities, not counties, have the ability to do so.
胡德县甚至无法通过相关的噪音法令：只有德克萨斯州的城市，而不是县，有能力这样做。
Shirley’s tickets now add up to a theoretical fine of $17,500 and counting.
现在，Shirley 的罚单理论上总计被罚款 17,500 美元，而且还在继续增加。
But that number is chump change for Marathon, which earned $165 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2024 and bragged to shareholders about “record earnings.” And the company is fighting back: They have requested a jury trial to overturn this low-level misdemeanor, which starts July 8.
但这个数字对于 Marathon 来说只是小钱，该公司 2024 年第一季度的收入为 1.65 亿美元，并向股东吹嘘“创纪录的盈利”。该公司正在反击：他们已要求从 7 月 8 日开始进行陪审团审判，以推翻这一低级轻罪。
At a pre-trial hearing in May, the company arrived with a full team of lawyers.
在五月份的预审听证会上，该公司携全套律师团队抵达现场。
“To bring two or three full-suited attorneys to a justice of the peace court citation issue: I’ve never seen that,” says Patrick Ryan, a local lawyer who has consulted with Granbury community members about the possibility of a civil nuisance lawsuit.
当地律师帕特里克·瑞安（Patrick Ryan）曾与格兰伯里社区成员就民事滋扰诉讼的可能性进行过咨询，他说：“让两到三名全套律师接受太平绅士法院的传票问题：我从来没有见过这种情况。”
“They’re coming with both barrels.”
“他们带着两个桶来。”
A representative for Marathon declined several interview requests with TIME, saying that the company would refrain from commenting publicly until Constable Shirley’s “unwarranted” citations against the plant had been resolved.
马拉松公司的一名代表拒绝了《时代》杂志的多次采访请求，并表示，在雪莉警官对该工厂的“无理”指控得到解决之前，该公司不会公开发表评论。
As Shirley sits outside the facility recording the pulsating drone, his nostrils flare, and his voice rises with impatience.
当雪莉坐在设施外记录脉动的无人机时，他的鼻孔张大，声音不耐烦地提高。
“When I was a murder investigator and someone killed somebody, I had the law on my side,” he says.
“当我是一名谋杀调查员时，有人杀了人，法律站在我这边，”他说。
“With this, it’s like I'm swatting at a rhinoceros.” As he reads the decibel levels on his sound meter, a security guard from the facility steps out of his car and snaps pictures of Shirley’s truck in the dark.
“有了这个，我就像在拍犀牛一样。”当他读取声表上的分贝值时，该设施的一名保安从车里走出来，在黑暗中拍摄了雪莉卡车的照片。
Shadden, who suffered from hearing loss, on her property in Granbury, Texas.
患有听力损失的沙登在她位于德克萨斯州格兰伯里的房产上。
Jake Dockins for TIME The residents of Granbury feel they’ve been lied to.
《时代》杂志的杰克·多金斯 (Jake Dockins) 格兰伯里的居民感觉他们被骗了。
In 2023, the site’s previous operators, US Bitcoin Corp, constructed a wall around the mine almost 2,000 feet long and claimed that they had “solved the concern.” But Shirley says that the complaints from the community about the sound actually increased when the wall was nearing completion last fall.
2023 年，该网站的前运营商美国比特币公司在矿场周围建造了近 2,000 英尺长的围墙，并声称他们已经“解决了这个问题”。但雪莉表示，去年秋天隔离墙接近完工时，社区对声音的抱怨实际上有所增加。
Since Marathon bought the facility outright in December, its hash rate, or potential computational power expended, has doubled .
自从 Marathon 在 12 月彻底购买该设施以来，其哈希率或潜在的计算能力消耗已经翻了一番。
A Marathon representative, however, says that their rate of energy consumption has decreased from 225 megawatts of capacity to 115 since the company took ownership of the site.
然而，马拉松代表表示，自从该公司接管该场地以来，他们的能源消耗率已从 225 兆瓦下降到 115 兆瓦。
As complaints mounted at the top of 2024, the company contended it did not know about the extent of the sound issues.
随着 2024 年底投诉不断增加，该公司声称不知道声音问题的严重程度。
“We are now the owners, but we are not the operator.
“我们现在是业主，但我们不是经营者。
USBTC is still the operator.
USBTC 仍是运营商。
Prior to the purchase, we were not aware of the noise issues,” a Marathon representative wrote to TIME in an email in January.
在购买之前，我们并不知道噪音问题，”一位马拉松代表在一月份给《时代》杂志的一封电子邮件中写道。
“Now that we own the site and have been made aware of the issue, we are working to gather information and address the situation.”
“现在我们拥有该网站并且已经意识到这个问题，我们正在努力收集信息并解决这个问题。”
But documents show that Marathon provided a $67 million loan in May 2021 to the site’s first formal owners, Compute North, to build out the site’s infrastructure, and Marathon’s purchase agreement of the site, dated December 15, 2023, clearly mentions the existence of the $1.9 million “sound wall” built several months prior.
但文件显示，马拉松于 2021 年 5 月向该网站的第一位正式所有者 Compute North 提供了 6700 万美元的贷款，用于建设该网站的基础设施，而马拉松于 2023 年 12 月 15 日签署的该网站购买协议明确提到了几个月前建造的价值 190 万美元的“隔音墙”的存在。
As community complaints reached a fever pitch earlier this year, Marathon held a meet-and-greet on March 29—Good Friday, which rubbed many people in Granbury’s deeply religious community the wrong way.
今年早些时候，随着社区投诉达到白热化程度，Marathon 在 3 月 29 日耶稣受难日举行了见面会，这让格兰伯里这个虔诚的宗教社区的许多人感到不快。
For the handful of people that did show up, Marathon laid out a noise mitigation plan which included turning off idle fans, moving some containers into liquid cooling by April 2024, and installing vegetation and trees around the perimeter.
对于少数确实出现的人，马拉松制定了一项噪音缓解计划，其中包括关闭闲置风扇、在 2024 年 4 月之前将一些集装箱移至液体冷却系统，以及在周边种植植被和树木。
In an emailed statement to TIME in late June, Marathon said that 58 air-cooled containers have been removed from the site, and pointed to a roadmap which vows to convert 50% of the site’s containers to immersion cooling by the end of the year.
Marathon 在 6 月下旬发给《时代》杂志的电子邮件声明中表示，已从现场拆除了 58 个风冷集装箱，并指出了一份路线图，誓言到今年年底将现场 50% 的集装箱转变为浸入式冷却。
A representative for Constellation Energy, which owns the power plant that Marathon connects to, said in a statement that the company is “staying updated on [Marathon’s] efforts to respond to the concerns raised by neighbors…
拥有马拉松所连接发电厂的星座能源公司的一名代表在一份声明中表示，该公司“正在随时了解马拉松为回应邻居提出的担忧而做出的努力……
We will continue working closely with Marathon as they take actions to reduce their impacts.”
我们将继续与马拉松密切合作，帮助他们采取行动减少影响。”
Marathon says that immersion cooling, in which computers are placed in tubs of oil, will largely fix the noise problem.
马拉松表示，浸没式冷却（将计算机放置在油桶中）将在很大程度上解决噪音问题。
But the technique has potential drawbacks, including the difficulty of regularly performing maintenance on a computer submerged in oil, says Kent Draper, the chief commercial officer of the Bitcoin and AI data center operator IREN.
但比特币和人工智能数据中心运营商 IREN 的首席商务官肯特·德雷珀 (Kent Draper) 表示，该技术存在潜在的缺点，包括难以定期对浸在石油中的计算机进行维护。
“Although it's been around for a long time in the industry, it's just not that widely adopted,” he says.
“虽然它在行业中已经存在很长时间了，但它并没有被广泛采用，”他说。
Even Marathon expressed skepticism about its ability to convert its many machines to immersion technology in a 2023 year-end SEC Report .
甚至 Marathon 在 2023 年年底的 SEC 报告中也对其将众多机器转换为沉浸式技术的能力表示怀疑。
“There is a risk we may not succeed in developing or deploying immersion-cooling at such a large scale to achieve sufficient cooling performance,” the company wrote.
该公司写道：“我们可能无法成功开发或部署如此大规模的浸入式冷却以实现足够的冷却性能。”
In an email to TIME, Marathon wrote: “While we are confident in our ability to scale this new technology, it is our obligation, as a publicly traded company, to identify any potential risks from a financial perspective.”
马拉松在给《时代》杂志的一封电子邮件中写道：“虽然我们对扩展这项新技术的能力充满信心，但作为一家上市公司，我们有义务从财务角度识别任何潜在风险。”
A representative for Marathon Digital Holdings says the company is transitioning to a quieter form of cooling.
Marathon Digital Holdings 的一位代表表示，该公司正在转向更安静的冷却方式。
Jake Dockins for TIME Granbury community members are exploring political and legal avenues.
Jake Dockins for TIME 格兰伯里社区成员正在探索政治和法律途径。
A petition against the mine in Granbury and its “excessive and unhealthy noise” garnered 800 in-person signatures, and was brought by representatives to the Texas Republican state convention in San Antonio in May, with the hopes of gaining statewide support for some sort of ban.
一份针对格兰伯里矿井及其“过度和不健康噪音”的请愿书获得了 800 名个人签名，并由代表于 5 月份在圣安东尼奥举行的德克萨斯州共和党州代表大会上提交，希望获得全州范围内对某种禁令的支持。
But two local elected officials, Nannette Samuelson and Shannon Wolf, say they tried to take the floor to stump for the issue, but weren’t given time to speak.
但两名当地民选官员南内特·萨缪尔森和香农·沃尔夫表示，他们试图发言就这个问题进行辩论，但没有时间发言。
Samuelson’s goal is now to pass resolutions in commissioners court prompting state senators to draft legislation.
萨缪尔森现在的目标是在专员法院通过决议，促使州参议员起草立法。
Any statewide legislation is sure to hit significant headwinds, because the very idea of regulation runs contrary to many Texans’ political beliefs.
任何全州范围内的立法都肯定会遇到重大阻力，因为监管的理念本身就与许多德克萨斯人的政治信仰背道而驰。
“As constitutional conservatives, they have taken our core values and used that against us,” says Demetra Conrad, a city council member in the nearby town of Glen Rose.
“作为宪政保守派，他们采用了我们的核心价值观，并用它来对付我们，”附近格伦罗斯镇的市议会成员德米特拉·康拉德 (Demetra Conrad) 说。
Some community members are also exploring a potential civil nuisance suit against Marathon, in which they would seek an injunction against the company and/or damages.
一些社区成员还在探索针对马拉松的潜在民事滋扰诉讼，他们将寻求针对该公司的禁令和/或损害赔偿。
One affected woman, Cheryl Shadden—who has medically-documented hearing loss—has retained the nonprofit Earthjustice to examine potential litigative routes.
一位受影响的妇女谢丽尔·沙登（Cheryl Shadden）有医学证明有听力损失，她聘请了非营利组织“地球正义”来研究潜在的诉讼途径。
Deputy managing attorney Mandy DeRoche says Earthjustice is exploring the possibility of taking its own sound readings near the site.
副执行律师曼迪·德罗什 (Mandy DeRoche) 表示，地球正义组织正在探索在该地点附近进行自己的声音读数的可能性。
The nonprofit has been involved in several lawsuits against crypto mining companies across the country.
该非营利组织已卷入针对全国各地加密货币挖矿公司的多起诉讼。
“Historically, Bitcoin miners go to the cheapest source of electricity with the least amount of regulation, and they do the cheapest thing possible,” DeRoche says.
“从历史上看，比特币矿工会使用最便宜的电力来源，受到最少的监管，并且做尽可能最便宜的事情，”德罗什说。
“It's one of the reasons why noise pollution from crypto mining tends to be so much worse than traditionally-operated data center operators.”
“这就是为什么加密货币挖矿产生的噪音污染往往比传统运营的数据中心运营商严重得多的原因之一。”
As Bitcoin continues to gain value, miners are building progressively bigger operations, causing gas plants and other fossil fuel emitters to spring back into action.
随着比特币不断增值，矿工们正在逐步扩大业务，导致天然气工厂和其他化石燃料排放者重新投入运营。
It is unclear whether states even have the energy capacity to support this new demand: In June, Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick tweeted that Texans “will ultimately pay the price” for the growth of crypto and AI data centers, writing that they “produce very few jobs compared to the incredible demands they place on our grid.” Regardless, Bitcoin lobbying groups are attempting to pass pro-Bitcoin-mining bills in state legislatures across the country, which would exempt similar operations from noise ordinances and local zoning laws.
目前尚不清楚各州是否有能源能力来支持这一新需求：今年 6 月，德克萨斯州副州长丹·帕特里克 (Dan Patrick) 在推特上表示，德克萨斯人“最终将为加密货币和人工智能数据中心的增长付出代价”，并写道，“与他们对我们电网提出的令人难以置信的需求相比，它们创造的就业机会非常少”。不管怎样，比特币游说团体正试图在全国各地的州立法机构中通过支持比特币挖矿的法案，该法案将使类似的运营免受噪音条例和当地分区法的影响。
People have reported similar symptoms near Bitcoin mines in Arkansas and Williston, North Dakota .
人们在阿肯色州和北达科他州威利斯顿的比特币矿场附近报告了类似的症状。
Ultimately, Granbury is just one canary of several in the proverbial mine.
归根结底，格兰伯里只是众所周知的矿井中的几只金丝雀之一。
In the week before this article’s publication, two more Granbury residents suffered from acute health crises.
在本文发表前一周，又有两名格兰伯里居民遭受了严重的健康危机。
The first was Tom Weeks, the owner of the hyperventilating dog.
第一个是汤姆·威克斯（Tom Weeks），他是一只换气过度的狗的主人。
On July 2, Weeks, 64, rose after another sleepless night of listening to the mine and realized he couldn’t breathe.
7 月 2 日，64 岁的威克斯在又一个不眠之夜听了地雷声后起床，发现自己无法呼吸。
He was rushed to a Fort Worth hospital, where he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism—a blood clot blocking his lungs—and hooked up to an oxygen tank.
他被紧急送往沃斯堡一家医院，在那里他被诊断出患有肺栓塞（血凝块堵塞了肺部），并连接了氧气罐。
Weeks was supposed to testify against Marathon in the jury trial, but is now physically unable to do so.
威克斯本应在陪审团审判中出庭作证对马拉松不利，但现在他无法这样做。
“This whole thing is an eye opener for me into profit over people,” Weeks says in a phone call from the ICU.
“这整件事让我大开眼界，从人身上获得利润，”威克斯在重症监护病房的电话中说道。
The second person affected was the five-year-old Indigo Rosenkranz.
第二个受影响的人是五岁的 Indigo Rosenkranz。
On July 6, she suffered from a seizure and was taken to the emergency room, before being routed to a childrens’ hospital in Fort Worth for further testing.
7月6日，她癫痫发作，被送往急诊室，然后被送往沃斯堡的一家儿童医院接受进一步检查。
Her mother, Sarah, was terrified and now feels she has no choice but to get a second mortgage to move away from the mine.
她的母亲莎拉感到害怕，现在觉得她别无选择，只能获得第二笔抵押贷款才能搬离矿井。
“A second one would really be a lot,” she says.
“第二个真的会很多，”她说。
“God will provide, though.
“不过，上帝会提供的。
He always sees us through.”
他总是能看透我们。”
The original version of this story misstated when Marathon started operating the Granbury Bitcoin mine.
这个故事的原始版本错误地描述了马拉松开始运营格兰伯里比特币矿场的时间。
It bought the mine in December 2023 but did not start operating it until early 2024.
它于 2023 年 12 月购买了该矿山，但直到 2024 年初才开始运营。
The story has also been updated to clarify how the mine's energy consumption has changed.
该报道也已更新，以阐明该矿的能源消耗发生了怎样的变化。