The NAACP is suing xAI and its subsidiary, MZX Tech, for allegedly operating methane gas turbines without proper permits. These turbines power xAI’s Colossus 2 data center in South Memphis. The association wants the federal district court of the Northern District of Mississippi to declare that the company has broken the Clean Air Act, force it to stop using the unpermitted turbines, and impose financial penalties on xAI for violating federal law, among other demands.
The lawsuit claims that xAI, the AI startup founded by Elon Musk and now owned by SpaceX, is running 27 gas turbines without an air permit. These turbines power Colossus 2, one of xAI’s growing data centers used to train Grok, its AI assistant. Gas turbines release pollution, hazardous chemicals, and fine particulate matter. These are linked to serious health problems like heart issues, respiratory diseases, and even certain cancers. These concerns are particularly urgent given how close Colossus 2 is to people’s homes. Operating these turbines without an air permit also goes against the Clean Air Act, which requires pollution sources to have permits before construction or operation.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice represent the NAACP in this lawsuit. Before filing the lawsuit today, the NAACP sent xAI a 60-day notice of intent to sue, following Clean Air Act rules. xAI did not respond to this notice, which is why the lawsuit is moving forward now.
Ben Grillot, a Senior Attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, stated, “xAI’s continued operation of these turbines without a permit and without adequate pollution controls is not only illegal, it’s an insult to families living nearby who for months have expressed serious concerns about how air pollution from the company’s personal power plant could impact their health and well-being. xAI must be held accountable for its reckless, unlawful actions — and that’s exactly what this lawsuit aims to do.”
Besides the high cost of components for training and running AI models, AI companies often need to generate their own power for the data centers where these components are installed. Oracle is reportedly also using gas generators, similar to xAI. Meanwhile, Google, Meta, and Amazon have invested in or made deals with nuclear energy providers to power their data centers. Building new energy sources for data centers is one of several ways proposed by the Ratepayer Protection Pledge to lower costs. This pledge is an agreement several tech companies signed to try and stop data centers from increasing the average person’s energy bill.
Quickly building new energy sources might help reduce costs, but it doesn’t address the negative environmental impacts of having a new power plant in a neighborhood. The Trump administration does not seem very interested in dealing with this issue. In his latest AI framework proposal, President Donald Trump largely ignored the environmental impact of AI. Instead, he called for streamlining the permitting process for things like on-site energy generators.
