The NAACP filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Elon Musk’s xAI, alleging the company is illegally operating methane gas turbines that spew dangerous air pollution at a massive data center complex near Memphis, Tennessee.
The complaint, filed in federal court in North Mississippi, states xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech are violating the Clean Air Act by running 27 unpermitted gas turbines at the Colossus 2 project, which powers the chatbot Grok. The turbines effectively create a power plant that is required under federal law to obtain permits for major sources of pollution, the civil rights group said.
“A data center should not be a potential death sentence for a community’s health. By looking to evade clear air laws to operate dirty turbines that emit pollution and known carcinogens, these companies are following a shameful, familiar pattern: asking Black and frontline communities to bear the toxic brunt of ‘innovation,’” Abre’ Conner, NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice, said in a statement.
The Colossus 2 turbines are in Southaven, Mississippi, about 13 miles south of Memphis. Many of the neighborhoods near the turbines have majority Black populations. The complex — which is near homes and churches — has the potential to emit more than 1,700 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) annually, according to the lawsuit. That would make it the largest industrial source of NOx in the Memphis area, which currently is not meeting national smog standards.
