The Texas Blockchain Council (TBC) and Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms have obtained a favorable ruling from a US district judge in a lawsuit against several US energy officials.
On February 22, Cointelegraph reported that TBC and Riot alleged that the US Department of Energy, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and their leadership were seeking data collection.” invasive” of cryptocurrency miners.
According to a February 23 filing in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, thTBC and Riot convinced the judge that without a temporary restraining order (TRO) against further data collection, a irreversible damage.
As a result, the court applied a TRO prohibiting the EIA from requiring crypto miners to respond to the survey, as well as prohibiting the EIA from sharing any data already received from the survey.
“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have demonstrated through a verified complaint and supporting evidence that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result if a TRO is not issued.”
Temporary restraining order granted pic.twitter.com/LzYVycdEWK
-Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) February 24, 2024
TBC and Riot argued that potential damages include non-recoverable costs of compliance with the survey, a credible threat of prosecution if they do not comply, and the disclosure of requested proprietary information.
Additionally, there was disagreement over the length of the survey that miners were required to complete, without compensation.
Although the EIA estimated a completion time of approximately 30 minutes, the court found this estimate “grossly inaccurate.”
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Meanwhile, TBC and Riot also disputed the estimate, stating that the cost of compliance so far has been more than 40 hours.
Based on the evidence provided, the court found that TBC and Riot are likely to win the lawsuit. In addition, he stated that the EIA misused its authority to approve the emergency study, a measure that the court considered “falls far from justifying such action.”
“The plaintiffs also demonstrate that they are likely to succeed on the merits. “The survey was proposed and approved under an emergency provision of the PRA,” the document states.
It was further stated that the TRO will expire before March 25, and that its goal during the four-week period is to “preserve the status quo.”
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