NAACP sues xAI over air pollution near Memphis data center

The NAACP has filed a federal lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech, alleging the illegal operation of 27 methane gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi. These turbines power xAI's Colossus 2 data center complex in Memphis, Tennessee, which serves as the primary training facility for the Grok-4 chatbot. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, contends that emissions from the turbines violate the Clean Air Act and pose significant health risks to predominantly Black communities in northern Mississippi and Memphis. Represented by Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center, the NAACP seeks to halt xAI's operations until the company obtains necessary air permits, installs effective pollution controls, and pays financial penalties for past violations. The plaintiffs argue that between August and December, xAI and MZX Tech operated the turbines without proper permits, emitting pollutants like formaldehyde and nitrogen oxides, which could make it the largest industrial source of nitrogen oxides in the 11-county Memphis metropolitan area. xAI, in response, stated that its temporary power generation units operate in compliance with all applicable laws. This legal action follows a previous dispute in 2025 regarding xAI's Colossus 1 data center, where Mississippi and Tennessee officials had initially allowed turbine operation under a "temporary-mobile" exemption without requiring pollution tracking. Following a notice of intent to sue from the NAACP and Southern Environmental Law Center, xAI eventually removed some turbines and permitted others for the Colossus 1 site. The Colossus 2 data center is slated to host 555,000 Nvidia GPUs, requiring substantial power, which xAI plans to manage with industrial-grade batteries. However, the NAACP warns of potential annual emissions of 180 tons of fine particulate matter, 500 tons of carbon monoxide, and 19 tons of formaldehyde from the current turbine operations.