xAI Adds 19 New Gas Turbines Despite Ongoing Lawsuit

xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, has significantly expanded its power generation capabilities at its Colossus 2 data center campus in Southaven, Mississippi, by adding 19 new natural gas turbines between late March and early May. This brings the total number of turbines at the site to 46, capable of generating over 500 megawatts of power. The expansion comes amidst an ongoing lawsuit filed in April by the NAACP, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), and Earthjustice, which alleges that xAI is violating the Clean Air Act by operating its original 27 turbines without the required air permits. Emails obtained by the SELC via a public records request revealed the turbine additions, with eight of the 19 new units installed after the lawsuit was initiated. Environmental groups expressed alarm over the increased emissions from burning natural gas, which contributes to planet-warming pollution and worsens air quality, particularly impacting historically Black communities like Boxtown near xAI's Colossus 1 site in Memphis, Tennessee. Regulators in both Mississippi and Tennessee have stated that xAI's portable turbines are exempt from permits for one year under the Clean Air Act, though the legal challenge disputes this interpretation for the current operations. Facing the turbine additions and the existing lawsuit, the NAACP filed for an emergency injunction last week, requesting the court to order the shutdown of the turbines at Colossus 2. xAI has responded by asserting that these data centers, powered by the turbines, are "essential to the operation of cutting-edge artificial intelligence and other computing tools used by the U.S. government and millions of users worldwide." Concurrently, Anthropic announced an agreement to utilize computing resources at Colossus 1, while Elon Musk stated that training for "SpaceXAI" has moved to Colossus 2, highlighting the demand for computational power. Abre' Conner, NAACP director of environmental and climate justice, condemned xAI's actions, emphasizing the disproportionate environmental and health impacts on Black communities.