A cryptocurrency mining facility with a load of up to 30MW has been proposed by an unnamed firm in Starkville, Mississippi.The proposed facility would be built next to an electrical substation on Industrial Park Road, according to local broadcaster WTVA. The project is still in the early stages and remains under review, with city officials saying it could be several months before there is another update.Starkville Utilities director Edward Kemp told WTVA the project’s power demand could be positive for the city-owned utility, describing the load as consistent and relatively stable compared with other types of customers. Kemp said the facility could help ratepayers by offsetting future rate increases.“From a customer standpoint, that’s very favorable,” Kemp told the broadcaster. “You have a consistent load that is kind of homogenous across the system. There’s not a lot of fluctuations on and off.”City officials have also sought to address potential noise concerns. Kemp said the company behind the proposal had committed to follow all local noise ordinances.Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said she had visited another cryptocurrency mining facility and was impressed by the site, describing it as “surprisingly quiet” and “mostly innocuous” in appearance.The company behind the proposed Starkville site has not been named, but is reportedly also looking for sites across the state of Tennessee to construct “hyperscale (centers) [that] would be like five to ten-fold, and maybe even 20-plus-times larger” than the proposed Starkville site.Some opposition to the project has already emerged. A Change.org petition launched on June 18 called on residents to block the development, citing concerns over the impact on Starkville’s utility system and land use. The petition claims that the project could add up to 30MW of power demand and 20,000 gallons of water usage to the Starkville Utilities system.As of publication, the petition had gathered 11 verified signatures.The Starkville proposal comes amid growing local scrutiny of cryptocurrency mining and data center projects across the US, particularly in smaller communities where large new power loads can raise questions over grid capacity, noise, land use, and utility infrastructure.Crypto mining facilities typically house large numbers of specialized computers used to validate blockchain transactions and generate cryptocurrency rewards. The process can create a steady electrical load, which utilities infrastructure companies may view favorably, but facility owners have also faced pushback in several states over noise from cooling systems and the scale of power demand.