A second Memphis-area data center owned by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has received a Clean Air Act permit to generate its own power on-site following accusations that it was doing so in violation of federal law.
The permitting decision comes just one week after an xAI official discussed the Southaven, Mississippi, data center with President Donald Trump at the White House at an event where technology companies committed to paying for the electricity their data centers use, including by generating their own power.
Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, which is merging with xAI, told Trump that the supercomputing facility known as Colossus 2 was being built “because of your work on this issue.”
“We want to be on your team to deliver a big win for the American people,” she said. “XAI will therefore commit to develop 1.2 gigawatts of power as our supercomputer’s primary source and that will be for every additional data center as well.”
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality issued the permit for 41 natural gas turbines generating 1.2 gigawatts of power at a public hearing today.
But Colossus 2 was already being powered by roughly 20 such turbines before the permit was issued, making it the second xAI data center accused of breaking federal clean air rules.
As MDEQ was weighing the permit last month, the Southern Environmental Law Center and NAACP threatened to sue xAI for operating the turbines without appropriate approvals.
The same groups are also challenging a permit issued for another xAI facility located just over the state line in South Memphis, Tennessee. That facility was similarly powered by more than 30 gas turbines for more than a year before xAI received a permit in July 2025.
In a statement, the groups accused Mississippi regulators of rushing the decision and not adequately responding to community comments opposing the permit. Those comments included critiques that the draft permit underestimated pollution from the facility and did not take into account emissions from the unpermitted turbines currently present at the site.
“Mississippi state regulators appear to be more interested in fast-tracking xAI’s personal power plant than conducting a thorough review of its impacts and having meaningful engagement with the families that will be forced to live with this dirty facility — and its pollution — in their communities,” SELC senior attorney Patrick Anderson said.
