Editing Rockdale, Texas (section)

==Economy==
Rockdale was the site of a large [[Alcoa]] [[aluminium smelting]] facility, which could produce 1.67 million pounds of aluminum per day.<ref name="alcoa">{{Cite web|url=https://www.alcoa.com/united-states/en/default.asp|title=Alcoa -- United States|website=www.alcoa.com|access-date=May 12, 2020}}</ref> The Alcoa plant profoundly changed the city, as noted in a ''[[Saturday Evening Post]]'' article by Rockdale native George Sessions Perry. Within a few years of its arrival in 1952, Rockdale almost doubled in population, changing in character from a predominantly agricultural economy to one heavily driven by manufacturing jobs.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} Smelting operations were halted at the Alcoa plant in 2008.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/alcoa-smelter/update-2-alcoa-stops-aluminum-production-at-texas-smelter-idUSN3029290020080930|title=Alcoa stops aluminum production at Texas smelter|work=[[Reuters]]|date=September 30, 2008|access-date=October 15, 2017}}</ref> The Alcoa plant closed in February 2014 when production at the atomizer ceased.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rockdalereporter.com/news/2014-03-20/Front_Page/Rockdale_Operations_atomizer_now_closed.html|title=Rockdale Operations atomizer now closed|publisher=RockdaleReporter.com|date=March 20, 2014|access-date=October 15, 2017}}</ref>

Rockdale was also the site of the [[Sandow Power Plant]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.luminant.com/generation/sandow-power-plant/|title=Sandow Power Plant|date=May 13, 2011 |publisher=[[Luminant]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015001523/https://www.luminant.com/generation/sandow-power-plant/ |archive-date=October 15, 2017 }}</ref> which closed in 2018.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Jeff |last=Mosier |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/2017/10/13/texas-largest-power-generator-speeds-coals-decline-closure-two-plants|title=Texas' largest power generator speeds up coal's decline with closure of two more plants |newspaper=[[Dallas Morning News]] |date=October 13, 2017 |access-date=December 28, 2021 }}</ref><ref name=Spectrum>{{cite news |first=Matthew |last=Mershon |url=https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2021/05/11/rural-texas-community-tapping-old-power-plant-infrastructure-to-generate-new-jobs |title=Rural Texas community tapping old power plant infrastructure to generate new jobs |publisher=[[Spectrum News|Spectrum News 1]] |date=May 12, 2021 }}</ref>

Two [[GPU mining|cryptocurrency miners]], Bitdeer, a division of [[Bitmain]], and Riot Platforms, formerly known as Bioptix, occupy former Alcoa facilities less than half a mile apart in Rockdale, using electricity transmission lines built to connect smelters to the power plant.<ref name=Spectrum/><ref>{{cite news |first=MacKenzie |last=Sigalos |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/31/bitcoin-mining-giants-bitdeer-riot-blockchain-in-rockdale-texas.html |title=Two of the biggest bitcoin mining companies in the world are battling it out in a Texas town of 5,600 people |website=[[CNBC]] |date=November 3, 2021 |orig-year=October 31, 2021 |access-date=December 28, 2021 }}</ref> As of 2023, the Riot Platforms facility was the most energy-intensive Bitcoin mining operation in the United States, consuming as much electricity as the nearest 300,000 homes and producing 1.92 million tons of [[Greenhouse gas emissions|carbon emissions]] per year.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dance |first=Gabriel J. X. |last2=Wallace |first2=Tim |last3=Levitt |first3=Zach |date=2023-04-10 |title=The Real-World Costs of the Digital Race for Bitcoin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/business/bitcoin-mining-electricity-pollution.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410164020/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/business/bitcoin-mining-electricity-pollution.html |archive-date=2023-04-10 |access-date=2025-05-09 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref>