Bitcoin mining giant MARA has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block municipal elections scheduled for November 4 in Hood County, Texas, alleging that county officials illegally placed a municipal annexation measure on the ballot that targets data center operations.
This article comes from Theminermag, a trade publication for the crypto mining industry, focusing on the latest news and research about institutional Bitcoin mining companies.
In a 47-page complaint filed Oct. 27 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, MARA accuses Hood County, County Judge Ron Massingill, County Attorney Matt Mills, and election administrator Stephanie Cooper of “deliberate and unconstitutional” conduct in approving a voting plan that would create a new municipality called Mitchell Bend around MARA’s mining facility near Granbury.
MARA claims that the proposed town line was drawn “solely to enclose” the site, giving local residents regulatory powers to “impose taxes and regulate business closures.” The company alleges that the county violates multiple provisions of the Texas Municipal Code governing municipal incorporation, including requirements regarding population, boundaries and pre-existing community status.
The dispute stems from neighborhood opposition to a large-scale air-cooled Bitcoin mining facility that MARA acquired in early 2024. Last summer, the company began reducing noise by moving to immersion cooling technology, which dampens the sound by submerging mining machines in cooling liquid.
At the time, MARA said it expected new immersion containers to be fully deployed by the end of the year, installing 24-foot acoustic walls and moving fan cooling units away from homes. Despite these measures, tensions continued. Residents organized under the group Citizens Concerned about Wolf Hollow, represented by the environmental law firm Earthjustice, sued the company for private nuisance in 2024, but later lost a related noise lawsuit in county court.
The new lawsuit alleges that Hood County Judge Ron Massingill, County Attorney Matt Mills and Elections Administrator Stephanie Cooper worked with the same group to fast-track the incorporation bill before the August voting deadline. Internal emails cited in the filing show officials acknowledging flaws in the petition, including mismatched city names and missing boundary maps, but pushing ahead with it regardless.
“The county does not intend to invalidate the petition at this time,” Mills wrote in an Oct. 3 email cited in the complaint. “The court is accepting applications for injunctions.”
Marathon argues that the incorporation effort “has no legitimate municipal purpose” and is instead aimed at “regulating, taxing and eliminating the company.”
This case is MARA Holdings, Inc. et al. v. Hood County, Texas, etc., organized as No. 4:25-cv-1202, Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth District.
The original article can be found here.
