AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 13 and Title 68, relative to local government approval.
Summary
HB1827 requires local approval before a quarry or a digital asset mining facility may be located in a county or city in Tennessee, including counties with a metropolitan form of government. The approval must occur in a public meeting of the appropriate local legislative body, and the bill sets a minimum 21-day notice period with multiple notice methods: publication in a newspaper, posting on the local government website, posting at the proposed site, and mailed notice to nearby property owners within 500 yards.
The bill defines "digital asset mining facility" as a group of computers at a single site that uses more than one megawatt of energy on an average annual basis to secure a blockchain protocol and generate controllable electronic records. It also defines "quarry" broadly to cover the extraction and mechanized processing of a wide range of minerals and stone products, excluding coal and deep metal mining. The act would take effect July 1, 2026, and would apply only to proposed facilities constructed on or after that date.
Impact
The bill would add a new local-government approval requirement to Tennessee Code Annotated Title 7, Chapter 51, giving counties and cities direct authority to approve or deny the siting of new quarries and large-scale digital asset mining facilities before construction. It would impose procedural notice obligations on local governments and create a statutory framework affecting developers, mining operators, property owners near proposed sites, and local legislative bodies. By tying the rule to facilities constructed on or after July 1, 2026, it would not appear to retroactively affect existing operations.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests the bill has generally favorable support in committee. It received a 5-1 recommendation for passage with amendment in the House Cities & Counties Subcommittee and then a unanimous 15-0 recommendation for passage with amendment in the House State & Local Government Committee. No committee transcripts were provided, so there is no recorded debate to indicate broader public or member sentiment beyond the strong committee votes.
Contention
The main point of contention appears to be the balance between local control and the ability of quarry and digital asset mining projects to locate and operate without added local approval hurdles. Potential supporters likely favor giving nearby residents and local governments more say over land use, noise, traffic, environmental, and utility impacts, while potential opponents may view the bill as a restrictive siting barrier for mineral extraction and energy-intensive blockchain mining. The 5-1 subcommittee vote indicates at least some concern or opposition, but the later unanimous committee vote suggests those concerns were not enough to stop the bill from advancing.