DOJ urges court to toss data center pollution case, claiming national security threat
The Department of Justice has intervened in a Mississippi federal lawsuit against xAI, urging its dismissal due to national security concerns related to AI innovation. The NAACP filed the lawsuit, alleging xAI's gas-powered turbines in Southaven disproportionately pollute Black neighborhoods and violate the Clean Air Act. This move by the DOJ is seen as a rare instance of the agency intervening to prevent environmental law enforcement.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has intervened in a federal court case in Mississippi, urging a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the NAACP against xAI and its subsidiary, MZX Tech. The lawsuit alleges that xAI's unpermitted gas-powered turbines, which power its Colossus 2 data center in Southaven, Mississippi, violate the Clean Air Act and disproportionately pollute nearby Black neighborhoods. The NAACP is seeking an injunction and significant daily fines from xAI.
In a rare move, the DOJ, through associate attorney general Stanley Woodward, Jr., argued that the lawsuit poses a national security threat. The agency claimed that halting the data center's operations would "shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War’s military operations," according to a New York Times report.
This legal action follows a previous victory for the NAACP in January, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled that xAI's Colossus methane gas turbines in Memphis, Tennessee, could not bypass air regulation requirements. Advocates critical of the DOJ's intervention highlighted its unusual nature in preventing environmental law enforcement and challenged Woodward's assertion that citizens should lack the power to sue under the Clean Air Act.