Mississippi regulators to hold xAI permit meeting on election day

As Elon Musk’s xAI plans to build a massive, natural gas-fired power plant in Southaven, Mississippi, the state’s environmental authority has scheduled a board meeting on Tuesday (Election Day for the 2026 primaries) to decide whether to grant the company key permits.

The NAACP and other civil rights and environmental advocates tried to delay the meeting, arguing that it was rushed and would conflict with some residents’ efforts to vote. The groups also said that holding the meeting in Jackson, about 200 miles from Southaven, prevented those directly affected by the facility from attending.

“This is not only a civic duty quandary, but also an unnecessary financial burden on black residents and individuals living in low-income areas and other communities near the facility,” the NAACP wrote in an op-ed. letter This document, dated March 8 to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), was made public Monday.

they asked rescheduling the hearing and moving it to a location closer to the proposed facility.

MDEQ denied the request Monday and wrote in response to the NAACP that the permit board “meets regularly on the second Tuesday of each month, which has been standard practice for decades,” and that the regulator “evaluates matters statewide.” A copy of the letter was shared with CNBC.

The meeting is scheduled to take place a little more than a month after Musk Merged xAI with SpaceXThe reusable rocket company completed the transaction, valuing the combined asset at $1.25 trillion. Since founding xAI in 2023, Musk has sought to turn the AI ​​company into an OpenAI rival in the emerging generative AI market.

Training and running AI models requires large amounts of computing and power, and rising electricity bills are partly attributed to the large electricity consumption of new data centers. At a meeting with the White House last week, executives from technology companies including xAI signed non-binding commitments to provide their own energy for their facilities.

So far, xAI has relied on the Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centers in Memphis, Tennessee, just across the Mississippi state line. In Southaven, about a 15-minute drive from Memphis, xAI is investing in a proposed power plant and a large data center called Macrohardrr.

Following MDEQ’s response on Monday, the NAACP said in a statement that its “actions speak volumes” with the hearing being held three hours away from the community on the morning of Election Day.

“They are trying to sneak xAI’s data center into the community’s backyard and don’t care about the people who live there,” the letter said.

In February, the NAACP announced it intended to sue xAI over alleged Clean Air Act violations in Southaven.

As CNBC previously reported, residents say they are exposed to 24-hour noise pollution and are concerned about air quality and public health issues due to xAI’s use of “temporary” natural gas-burning turbines. Research by scientists at the University of Tennessee to create He said xAI’s previous use of turbines contributed to air pollution problems in Greater Memphis.

At a public hearing in Southaven on Feb. 17, nearly 200 residents implored state and local officials to reject xAI’s mandate to quickly build data and power infrastructure without greater transparency, community engagement and effective efforts to prevent noise and air pollution.

Doctors, parents, teachers and local officials spoke at the hearing.

“We are slowly losing our love for the place we decided to raise our family,” said Taylor Logsdon, a mother of three, citing pollutants, noise levels and negative health effects. “It’s no coincidence that this is happening now. And I have a feeling it’s going to get worse.”

A recent study conducted by Projector It showed xAI operating more than a dozen “temporary” turbines simultaneously in Southaven, as it previously did in Memphis. The company has argued that the turbines do not require federal permitting, but environmental compliance experts disagree.

Community response and regulatory requirements are among the factors pushing Musk and other tech executives to explore the potential of data centers in space.

WRISTWATCH: SpaceX assumes xAI’s cash burn after merger