Cynthia Trentham, who lives near the site, said she was caught off guard by the news. She said that her neighbors, across the county, want to preserve the area’s resources and stop what they’ve read to be a harmful industry coming to their town.

“We’re just trying to work together, as a community, to prevent what has happened in other towns that weren’t aware, had no idea what was coming,” Trentham said.

Hawkins County Mayor Mark DeWitte said that he — along with the county attorney and District 7 commissioners Robbie Palmer and Bobby Jinks — have spent countless hours this week hearing residents’ concerns and making plans.

“Hawkins County citizens have expressed opposition to several concerns in the past, but since I’ve been in the mayor’s office I have not heard an outcry louder than what is taking place regarding the location of a Bitcoin mining operation in Bulls Gap,” DeWitte wrote in a statement to the Kingsport Times News.

ExoticRidge CEO Will Daugherty said he was surprised by this response to what he said was a small operation, seeking to have a small impact. Daugherty said the facility would take up less than an acre of the land ExoticRidge leased from the Bulls Gap Frac Company, and be less than 3,000 square feet.

This Bulls Gap site — located 5 miles from downtown, off Highway 66 — would be the company’s first location in Tennessee, but third overall. Daugherty said this upcoming facility would be on par, size wise, with ExoticRidge’s hub in Annville, Kentucky.

In early September, ExoticRidge applied for a construction permit with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, to ensure that two natural gas engines would operate within air quality parameters required by the state. Daugherty estimated that the permit would be approved by early October.

Once the generators are approved, Daugherty said ExoticRidge will finalize the construction process and add computers to the site to mine for cryptocurrency. He said these will be small units, similar to the company’s other sites, requiring minimal construction. The computers themselves don’t require any further environmental permits.

Blue Exotic Capital Partners, an investment agency working with ExoticRidge, described the Tennessee location as a $25 million project. Daugherty said that a large chunk of that money will go toward carbon dioxide captures on the natural gas engines, to decrease emissions. He said the money will otherwise cover the cost of the expensive generators and computers.

“I think we’ve been put on a scale that we aren’t,” Daugherty said. “We’re a small business.”

Crystal Jessee, a lawyer in Bulls Gap, said that while she is supportive of industries in the area, a cryptocurrency mine should not be in a residential community. She said that she has not found one citizen who supports the mine.

“Our main concern is [them] coming in the cloak of night,” Jessee said. “They’re leasing land from a gas company that was sold their land to be a gas company.”

Daugherty said he has been in open communication with everyone ExoticRidge has met in the area. He said he isn’t aware of any requirements to operate beyond the air quality permit.

“When a normal business goes in, they just kind of open the door and hang a shingle, right?” Daugherty said. “That’s where we thought we’d be here.”

Jessee said that Bulls Gap residents are concerned the county does not have the infrastructure to support a cryptocurrency mine. Trentham said these operations are energy intense, straining the power grid and driving up electric bills.

Daugherty, however, said that the site will be entirely off-grid. He said the natural gas engines will use the byproduct from the Bulls Gap Frac Company, which he described as an unutilized resource.

“It won’t have any impact on power utilization,” he said. “That’s one key concern that I’ve heard. The other is water [consumption], and we don’t use water in our operations.”

Daugherty said that ExoticRidge uses air to cool its computers and not water, as other mines do.

Jessee also expressed residents’ concern for the noise pollution often associated with cryptocurrency mines. The ExoticRidge site is within 1,000 feet of several homes, as well as the Hopewell Baptist Church.

Pastor Roger Trent said that the church, built in 1833, does not have much insulation and lacks funding to further dampen sound. Trent said he was worried about constant noise from a cryptocurrency mine interrupting services.

He said the church has already been affected by the Bulls Gap Frac Company’s flame byproduct. The flame is visible from the church, and Trent said its heat travels on the wind. Daugherty said that ExoticRidge’s use of the byproduct will help diminish the flame. However, Trent said the churchgoers can get used to the heat, but not sound.

While Daugherty said that the natural gas engines and computers will create noise, he hopes it will be nondisruptive. He said that the company’s Annville location is in a field near homes and has not received noise complaints since it went online in 2023. The Bulls Gap location, on the other hand, has a line of trees to act as a buffer.

“We’re aware that the mining operation makes noise, and the generators make noise,” Daugherty said. “That’s one of the reasons to be behind some tree lines from homes and other properties, to help shield the noise, but also the view.”

According to the manufacturer of the natural gas engines, Caterpillar, the generators produce 72 decibels at 50 feet. That is louder than a normal conversation but quieter than a vacuum cleaner, according to Yale’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety. The computers will also produce noise; Daugherty said the volume of this depends on various factors like the types of cooling fans used and how the computers are run.

DeWitte said that there is nothing in place for the county government to regulate noise level.

“However,” DeWitte said, “that is not saying there won’t be something in place in the very near future.”