A school in the Eastern Upper Peninsula in Michigan has taken legal action to stop the persistent noise from nearby Bitcoin mining rigs.

As previously reported on DCD, preK-5 charter school Lake Superior Academy in Dafter Township had to shelve expansion plans due to the unbearable and persistent noise emanating from a nearby Bitcoin mining farm.

Now, the school has filed a lawsuit against Odessa Partners, the owners of the mining farm, alleging that the site negatively influences the learning and health of the students, and seeks to have the machines relocated.

The school’s Superintendent Schlehuber said the metallic whining noise reaches heights of 70-75 decibels, which, according to the National Council on Aging, is the level at which the risk of hearing loss begins.

Odessa stated in court filings that it had made an attempt to dampen the noises emitted from the Bitcoin miners by placing hay bales between the rigs and the school. However, school staff said this has made little difference.

The site was also subject to a two-week closure order, but the noise continued as soon the rigs were turned on again. Odessa’s court filings noted that shutting down the miners cost them $15,000 per day.

Odessa Partners consists of two smaller businesses: Wyoming Partners Irrevocably Statutory Trust, and Valletta Corp LLC.

Both of these companies were found to be linked to Michael Carbonara, CEO of fintech company Ibanera. In May, Ibanera was discovered to be the target of a pursuit by a Bahamas bank for $20 million in wrongfully withheld funds, and $33m in damages.

Odessa’s court filings noted that the school sits perpendicular to Interstate 75, and argued that “the noise Plaintiff claims to be emanating from Defendant’s property is purportedly less than that typically generated by the use and activity occurring on the other side of Plaintiff’s property.”

Superintendent Schlehuber rebuffed this claim, saying: “There’s a huge difference between a loud truck going by a few times a day and constant noise.”

The outcome of the legal action could help set a precedent around how and where Bitcoin and crypto mining farms are allowed to be constructed, particularly when it concerns rural areas, or sites near public utilities like schools.