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Last week Merkle Standard CEO Steve Wood admitted that Beijing's Bitmain and Allrise Capital have been misleading the county about how many people they actually employee at their 100 MW bitcoin mining facility at the converted PNC papermill in Usk. They had publicly claimed to have 20 employees, but last week Wood confessed that their 20 employees were actually split between Usk, the Allrise Capital office in California, and their other bitcoin facility in South Carolina. As we previously reported, Merkle Standard, the LLC which is the public face of the Bitmain/Allrise facility, had repeatedly claimed to be one of the largest employers in the county even though they certified to the State Department of Commerce in February that they had only six employees. See Merkle Standard has six employees but claims to be one of largest employers in Pend Oreille County - PROTECT PEND OREILLE Last May, they reported to our PUD that they (Allrise Capital) had six employees in California. The facility in South Carolina likely employees a similar number. Bitmain/Allrise's promises of economic benefits to our county keep get smaller and smaller. First, property tax revenues for their 900-acre Usk property have crashed by 75 percent (they will only pay $145,000 this year compared to close to $600,000 in 2020). Now the promise of jobs has proven to be just as empty. State rejects Allrise Capital Evergreen Grant application sponsored by POC EDCLast week the State Department of Commerce rejected an Evergreen Manufacturing grant application submitted by the Allrise Capital and the Pend Oreille County Economic Development Council (EDC). Allrise Capital claimed to be seeking $400,000in grant money to restart the former PNC Papermill, but in their application, they specified that they hoped to use the money to upgrade their "data center" bitcoin mining facility. The State's rejection of the grant application is indicative of the lack of credibility of our EDC after it mismanaged a previous grant for $300,000 for a silicon smelter to be built near Newport and clearly failed to conduct any due diligence review of Allrise's actual intent or ability to restart the mill. The EDC and county currently owe the State the $300,000. See: EDC Director Concealed $300,000 Debt to State for Four Months While Her Contract Under Review - PROTECT PEND OREILLE The Spokesman-Review had questioned the validity of the grant application after it became apparent that Allrise likely did not have the ability to restart the mill. Critics question grant request to restart Usk papermill | The Spokesman-Review We reported last February that there were five reasons why it was unlikely that Allrise intended to restart the mill: 1.Ponderay Industries LLC has neither prepared nor presented a plausible business plan for operating the paper mill, nor does it appear such a business case exists. Market conditions for paper manufacturing are worse than when the PNC Mill declared bankruptcy in 2020. 2.The existing power infrastructure supporting the former PNC mill site cannot support the operations of both the existing bitcoin mining center and the paper mill. According to already completed BPA Interconnection Studies, expanding power infrastructure to the necessary level would take at least 4-7 years. 3.Ponderay Industries LLC grossly misrepresented the cost of investment necessary to restart the mill. The currently required investment will exceed $100 million, not the $1.4 million indicated in the grant application. 4.Ponderay Industries LLC, which has no known assets or income, does not have the ability to finance the necessary investment. Its parent company, Allrise Capital Inc., has neither committed to financing the necessary investment nor does it appear to have the assets, income, or credit necessary to fund the required investment. 5.Funding this project is inconsistent with state climate and environmental protection policies embodied in the Clean Energy Transformation Act and current House Bill 1416. The existing Bitcoin mining operating at the former PNC mill site purchases no e-tagged electricity, uses no clean, renewable power, and has repeatedly misrepresented the source and carbon cost of the electricity it uses. For a detailed analysis of Allrise's ability to reopen the mill, download and read the report below: 
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