The moment of crisis has arrived... PUD leaders need to stand firm to protect the citizens of Pend Oreille County

The moment of crisis has arrived. Our citizen-owned PUD’s contract with Beijing’s Bitmain’s and Vladimir’s Allrise Capital’s Usk crypto facility (operating alternatively as Merkle Standard or Cascade Digital Mining) expires in a few weeks and the two foreign companies are seeking to threaten and browbeat interim general managers April Owen and Sarah Holderman into a sweetheart deal that will force the residents of Pend Oreille County to subsidize their enormous power bill and shoulder the huge costs of their risk.

Bitmain/Allrise have made no less than 11 consecutive terrible business decisions or assumptions in which they failed to conduct even rudimentary due diligence or risk management.This has put the $100+ million of Chinese and Russian money invested the massive bitcoin mining facility in Usk is in imminent danger. If current market electricity rates and bitcoin prices hold, Bitmain and Allrise will only be able to afford the electricity to run their facility for 3-4 of the next 18 months not counting this July, August, and September where they have already not been able to operate.

Their only hope is to get the citizens of Pend Oreille County to bail them out of the pit of their own making.

But I believe Mses Owen and Holderman have the right stuff to be the leaders Pend Oreille County needs at this moment of crisis. I believe these women will put their neighbors and ratepayers first. I have read hundreds of pages of correspondence from Bitmain/Allrise full of vitriol, false allegations, and threats. Every time, I have read them respond professionally and firmly that our PUD puts its citizen-owners first.

When a new GM takes the helm of our PUD, they will be grateful that Owen and Holderman keep the ship on course instead of charting a risky path through crypto shoals.

Please write our PUD leadership and encourage them to put the interests of their neighbors ahead of foreign crypto companies. 

PUD Commissioners
Curt Knapp [email protected]
Joe Onley [email protected] 
Dave Rick [email protected]

PUD Co General Managers
April Owen [email protected] 
Sarah Holderman [email protected]