NAACP sues Elon Musk’s xAI over Memphis data center air pollution
Gas turbines are seen at the xAI data center on Riverport Rd in Memphis, TN on April 25, 2025.
Brandon Dill | Washington Post | Getty Images
The NAACP filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI on Tuesday, accusing the artificial intelligence company of violating the Clean Air Act by using natural gas-burning turbines to power data centers in and around Memphis, Tennessee.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, alleges that xAI and its subsidiary, MZX Tech, LLC, installed and operated 27 gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, between August and December 2025 “without air permits or consideration for the health and safety of people living nearby.”
Turbines emit smog-forming pollutants and particulate matter that can lead to increased health risks and an unpleasant odor, among other things.
The NAACP is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief that the companies “cease operation of the Colossus Gas Plant unless and until the necessary permits are obtained; implement required pollution controls; and pay appropriate fines for each day of violation.”
“Our right to clean air is non-negotiable, especially when corporations prove that their priority is profit, not people.” Abre’ConnerNAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Director said in an emailed statement.
xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
xAI, which now owns SpaceX after this year’s merger, has been using natural gas-burning turbines at its facility in Southaven, Mississippi, for months and claims that no federal permit is needed because they are for temporary use only.
The company operates Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centers in Memphis, just across the Mississippi state line. The company plans to build another plant, called Macrohardrr, in Southaven, where it is also building a more permanent power plant that will use 41 natural gas-burning turbines to power data centers.
According to the lawsuit, tens of thousands of people live, work and study near xAI’s power plant; Hundreds of thousands more live in greater Memphis. The filing states that “a much larger portion of this population is Black than the population of the country as a whole.”
Separately, the NAACP is asking Mississippi state regulators to revoke a permit granted to xAI in March that allowed Musk’s company to build a massive power plant with 41 permanent turbines in Southaven.
Musk, the world’s richest person, is counting on the greater Memphis area to serve as the backbone of xAI’s development as it seeks to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in the burgeoning artificial intelligence market.
The company has sparked regulatory investigations from the EU Commission and UK online safety regulators, among others, after its Grok image generator and chatbot enabled the widespread creation and sharing of deepfake AI porn based on images of non-consenting real people, including children.
Amid this controversy, SpaceX acquired xAI in February in a transaction that valued the combined asset at $1.25 trillion, ahead of what is expected to be a record IPO in the coming months.
The NAACP is represented in the case by Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center.
