Mayor to homeowner losing sleep over data center plant: “Consider selling”
It was 4 a.m. Sunday morning and 46-year-old Jason Haley was awake once again.
The suburban quiet that Haley had become accustomed to during her two decades of residing in Southaven, Mississippi, had been replaced by a constant buzz, like an airplane hovering over her home, over the past few months, she said.
The sound that kept Haley awake was coming from a working switchboard. Elon Musk’s xAI data centers in the region, according to a lawsuit filed against the company and its subsidiary MZX Tech in June. Haley and two other Southaven residents, who live within a mile of the facility, claim in the lawsuit that the “nearly constant” noise and vibrations cause adverse physical and psychological effects on health.
The application comes at a time when resistance against data center development together with majority of Americans They oppose building a local data center, according to a Gallup poll released earlier this year.
Similar disputes are occurring across the country, as in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. case A lawsuit filed by residents this month alleges in Lowell, Massachusetts, that a data center emitted “unreasonable and excessive noise” onto residents’ properties and that noise from a data center’s cooling center “disturbed neighbors’ sleep.” April outfit.
There are more than 4,000 data centers in the United States, according to a recent report from the United Nations report. To power data centers, developers are building their own facilities, sometimes with little warning to residents like Haley.
Haley reached out to Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite about the noise in emails he shared with CBS News. Last November, he encouraged Musselwhite to drive through the neighborhood and “keep listening for high-pitched sounds.”
Musselwhite responded to Haley an hour later, saying, “I am aware of the noise and am working on a solution with xAI officials.” “This is a problem,” he said in another email later in the day.
But soon another sleepless night ensued and Haley began emailing the mayor again.
“Is there anyone else I can reach?” wrote Haley Musselwhite. “It’s almost 4 a.m. and I can hear it from my bed. The shrill, roaring sound is at full power now. My ears are ringing. I can’t live with this. How is this confirmed?”
“I don’t care if this is Elon’s project”
Just north of Southaven on the Mississippi-Tennessee border, xAI’s Colossus data center came online in September 2024 in Memphis. The company called it “the world’s largest AI supercomputer.”
Musk towards the end of July 2025 announces Another data center, Colossus 2, will be operational in the region within a few weeks, he said.
Days later, an announcement appeared on Southaven residents’ Facebook feeds: A power facility that had been idle for decades would be revived to support xAI’s expanding data center operations in the area, Musselwhite in question.
The post was met with a flood of comments; Some praised the development, while others expressed concerns about the facility’s impact on the environment and pressure on local resources.
Meanwhile, Haley started hearing voices.
“My first thought was that someone had a leaf blower running all the time,” he said.
By December the noise had become a fixture. He started getting headaches, stopped sleeping, and was overcome by feelings of hopelessness and depression. The noise was inevitable, and despite doing her best to drown it out (sleeping with earplugs, getting a fan for white noise), the sound continued to drone on.
So Haley began speaking at city government meetings, on Facebook and through TikTok, where she posted videos of herself measuring noise with a sound meter. He later became involved in a grassroots coalition. Safe and SoundTo highlight concerns about xAI’s initiatives in the region.
The label “activist” is one he reluctantly accepts.
“I was never into any form of activism, I wasn’t very interested in politics,” he said. “I’m just a guy who has a problem with this noise and is trying to speak out and raise awareness.”
When she emailed Musselwhite again about the noise in December, her message included a clarification: “I’m not a republican or a democrat, I don’t care if this is Elon’s project. I didn’t know who it was when I started complaining about the noise starting in August.”
Musselwhite responded a few days later.
“As I told you at the meeting, you seem like a reasonable person,” he said. “I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice from an old man; be careful who you associate with so you don’t damage your credibility.”
As of January, xAI was expanding its footprint with its third data center, MACROHARDDR, in Southaven. As residents like Haley continue to push back online and at town meetings, Musselwhite had a new message.
Southhaven said in a speech Facebook post“He was under attack from anyone who chose to oppose Elon Musk because of his high-profile political stances.” He warned residents to “be wary of the smokescreen of radical politics.”
Musselwhite continued to acknowledge noise as a problem in emails to Haley.
“The noise issue is one of my highest priorities and I have had detailed discussions with xAI and many independent professionals to resolve it,” he wrote in March.
But he offered more advice to Haley in the same email: “I know employees want homes, so you might consider selling your home.”
CBS News made multiple attempts to speak with Musselwhite but did not receive a response.
Migraines, ringing ears and sleepless nights
Moving isn’t Haley’s choice, but she said she’s in a financial position to do it if she wants to.
This doesn’t apply to everyone.
Just over a decade ago, 31-year-old Taylor Logsdon bought a home for his growing family in Southaven and began building his life around it.
“We loved it here,” he said. “It was peaceful, quiet, you didn’t have to worry about anything.”
But that was before the noise, which was so loud she said it sometimes shook her house. Logsdon, who is also part of the Safe and Sound coalition and is suing xAI along with Haley and another Southaven resident, said he suffers from migraines and anxiety because of the noise.
He said that he and his children also had constant ringing in their ears. A full night’s sleep has become rare for the family.
“I would move tomorrow if I could,” she said, adding that she needed to save money before she could afford to move.
Their children, all under the age of 13, have difficulty staying awake at school.
“One of them is always very angry; he’s never, ever been like this, but he’s as angry as ever,” he said. “I feel like I’m more agile too.”
xAI spent millions of dollars to attenuate sound with a sound barrier, a berm and evergreen trees, Musselwhite said in a February Facebook post.
“It still didn’t help. It didn’t leave even the slightest trace,” Logsdon said.
Clinical psychiatry professor at New York University, Dr. Samoon Ahmad said people living in areas with “constant humming or buzzing” reported headaches, stress and sleep disturbances.
2023 to work found that exposure to environmental noise can lead to negative associations with cardiovascular disease and mortality, diabetes, hearing impairment, neurological disorders, and adverse reproductive outcomes.
“People think of discomfort as an abstract term,” Ahmad said. “This is not an abstract term because it has real physiological consequences.”
World Health Organization recommends Annual average nighttime noise outside bedrooms should be less than 40 decibels to prevent adverse health effects. Haley recorded noise levels above 60 decibels in his Southaven backyard by 10:15 p.m.
Musk’s Memphis
Even before Logsdon and Haley decided to take action against xAI, Musk’s growing presence in the Memphis area attracted the attention of advocacy groups for health and environmental concerns.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed a lawsuit against xAI in April, alleging the Southaven facility emitted “significant” amounts of harmful pollutants from its 27 gas turbines, according to a court filing reviewed by CBS News; this number has since increased to 59. The NAACP also filed an appeal to challenge the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s decision to issue an air permit allowing the Southaven facility to operate 41 permanent methane gas turbines. Independent study found operations will already increase air pollution in an area struggle with a disproportionate number of asthma-related emergency room visits.
CBS News has reached out to xAI for comment.
Musk’s latest investment in the Southaven data center brings his company’s contribution to the region to $20 billion, according to Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves’ office. Governor I called him “It is the largest economic development project in the history of Mississippi.”
Musk’s financial footprint has also extended beyond data centers — MZX Tech donated over $1.3 million to the Southaven Police Department in February, according to a donation agreement obtained by CBS News. half price Starlink For those in the Memphis area.
But Logsdon says the cost to his and his family’s health made him wonder why his city was willing to “harm a small number of people to get the benefits.”
“We weren’t a failing town before,” Logsdon said. “Our economy wasn’t terrible here.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Southaven’s median household income was over $70,000 in 2024; that’s $20,000 more than the state average.
Currently a stay-at-home mom, Logsdon will look for work this fall so she and her husband can start saving money to move away from the factory. For now, his goal is a full night’s sleep.
“I hope my family can go back to normal life,” he said. “Being able to sleep at night, being able to enjoy my backyard, being able to go swimming.”
