Pollution from Musk’s unpermitted xAI power project hits hardest in Black communities

Written by: Disha Raychaudhuri and Valerie Volcovici

July 14 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI installed 59 natural gas turbines for its Colossus 2 data center project in Tennessee without obtaining federal clean air permits, according to communications between regulators and xAI representatives.

Potential emissions from the turbines would be released well beyond the threshold requiring federal permitting and near predominantly Black communities already estimated to suffer disproportionately high rates of lung disease, according to a Reuters analysis based on government data and information contained in correspondence with regulators.

The findings, which have not been previously reported, reflect that the explosion in demand for electricity from AI data centers is pushing companies to build off-grid power plants at a pace that is outpacing environmental oversight, with potentially huge risks to public health.

The number of unauthorized turbines identified by Reuters is almost double the figure xAI has publicly disclosed. The company had previously announced that it had operated 27 unauthorized turbines for Colossus 2 as of January and claimed that the permits were not required. ‌At least 57 of the 59 turbines are located in Mississippi, just over the Tennessee state line where the data center is located.

XAI turbines are among numerous off-grid power plants for data centers proposed or under construction across the country. Local authorities often fast-track approvals in just weeks or months for such power generation projects, which typically connect to the grid, without requiring years of environmental studies and public hearings, Reuters reported.

Mississippi regulators issued a permit for permanent turbines for Colossus 2 in March, allowing the construction of 41 gas-powered turbines. The approval came three weeks after the state’s only public hearing on the project.

The xAI temporary turbine cluster in Mississippi is already among the largest off-grid data center energy projects, according to analyst Ben King of think tank Rhodium Group, who reviewed the Reuters analysis.

“This appears to be an unprecedented level of behind-the-meter gas being installed in one location,” he said, referring to off-grid natural gas plants that serve only one customer.

Communications reviewed by Reuters show that xAI, now owned by trillionaire Musk’s SpaceX, is installing 57 off-grid turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, just across the state line from the Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, a facility that powers the Grok chatbot and other artificial intelligence systems. Records show that the company installed two more turbines for the project without permission at a different site. Reuters was unable to locate him.

Communications obtained through Reuters’ public records request included emails between Trinity Consultants, which represents xAI and subsidiary MZX Tech, and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ).

xAI did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

xAI’s turbines are part of a growing environmental justice battle over whether the AI ​​boom is placing a disproportionate pollution burden on communities of color.

Civil rights groups, including the ‌NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center, sued xAI in April to halt its operations, arguing that the turbines produce emissions subject to the Federal Clean Air Act and should not be operated without a permit. They claim the turbines pollute homes, schools and churches in historically Black communities.

“The scale of this is staggering,” said Patrick Anderson, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “This is absolutely a massive Clean Air Act violation that threatens public health.”

Securing a Clean Air Act permit would subject xAI’s project to extensive scrutiny and public comment, which would likely take years. Mississippi environmental regulators and xAI argued in court filings that the turbines were exempt because they were “mobile” and intended to operate at the site for less than a year.

“MDEQ has determined that portable/temporary turbines do not require an air permit,” the agency said in a statement to Reuters.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in January 2026 that even temporary turbines that exceed emissions thresholds must obtain permits. But the agency told Reuters it was considering changes to allow “regulatory flexibilities” for portable units while still protecting public health.

xAI, MDEQ and EPA did not respond to Reuters’ questions about the effects of pollution on communities of different ethnicities, from generating electricity to servicing data centers.

The U.S. Department of Justice weighed in on the case, saying in a June 15 filing that restricting the turbines could threaten national security interests because xAI’s systems support U.S. military operations, including operations involving Iran.

The outcome of the lawsuit filed by civil rights groups could help define how environmental laws apply to the fast-growing artificial intelligence industry, where companies are scrambling to bring power supplies online to support energy-intensive computing.

“This creates scenarios where the government can create sacrifice zones and tell communities they have to breathe illegal air pollution,” said Mary Rock, senior attorney at Earthjustice, which represents the NAACP and SELC.

The dispute echoes findings from a 2022 study by researchers at UCLA and Columbia University and published in the journal Nature Energy that found previously red-lined communities where banks have historically discriminated against black mortgage applicants now face disproportionately high exposure to pollutants from fossil fuel facilities.

“Air pollution from these and other sources contributes to systemic racial disparities in chronic diseases and ultimately shorter lives,” UCLA public health professor Lara Cushing, a co-author of the study, told Reuters.

BIG EMISSIONS

The emails reviewed by Reuters included manufacturer emissions profiles for 32 of 59 turbines, including 30 turbines at the Southaven site.

A Reuters analysis based on this information found that these 30 turbines alone could emit about 2,500 short tons of nitrogen oxide, 4,000 short tons of carbon monoxide and 22 short tons of formaldehyde per year, assuming they operate continuously at 80% capacity. According to the EPA, gas turbines are typically operated at 80% or more load to achieve efficiency.

Nitrogen oxides contribute to smog and respiratory inflammation, according to the American Lung Association. Carbon monoxide deprives the body of oxygen and formaldehyde is carcinogenic.

The xAI facility’s potential emissions far exceed the Clean Air Act threshold that requires permitting facilities capable of producing more than 100 short tons of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides per year.

“That’s a huge amount of turbines and an incredible amount of air pollution,” Southaven resident Shannon Samsa said in an interview.

“It’s not an assumption that air pollution is bad for you,” he said.

Nitrogen oxide emissions calculated by Reuters for about half of the plant’s turbines would put the plant “among the most polluting natural gas plants in the entire country,” said Nicholas Mailloux, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies the air quality and health benefits of a transition to clean energy.

The plant would be on par with the top 25 U.S. gas plants for nitrogen oxide emissions, he said, citing EPA data for actual emissions.

AFFECTED PEOPLE

In Southaven’s Colonial Hills neighborhood, the sound of the turbines serving Colossus 2 can be heard at all hours of the day, often creating loud explosions that residents compare to jet engines.

Ervin Laws, a Colonial Hills resident in his 20s, said the noise wakes him up at night. “I can’t do anything about it because he has more money than me,” she said, referring to Musk.

The turbines were installed in communities already estimated to face relatively high burdens of respiratory diseases, according to a Reuters analysis of CDC data.

Estimated asthma rates in 27 of 28 census counties within five miles of the county, which includes Mississippi and Tennessee, were higher than the nationwide figures. Rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were also higher in 24 regions.

Five miles is a distance commonly used in environmental health research to identify populations likely to be exposed to air pollution from a stationary source.

A separate Reuters analysis of Census Bureau data found that residents living near the facility are disproportionately Black. Because the five-mile radius crosses state lines, Reuters compared each side to its county baseline.

Within five miles of the facility in DeSoto County, Mississippi, where the turbines are located, about 46% of residents are black, compared to 33% nationally, according to census data.

At the state line in Tennessee, where residents have no say in Mississippi’s permitting process, about 94% of residents within five miles of the facility are black, compared to 52% in surrounding Shelby County.

Jayajit Chakraborty, a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, said the Reuters analysis was consistent with research showing that communities of color are more exposed to fossil fuel pollution.

Parts of Shelby County and DeSoto County previously failed to meet federal ozone standards and remained subject to EPA-approved plans to ensure they did not fall back into violation, according to regulatory filings. Nitrous oxide is a key precursor to ozone formation, which the EPA says can harm respiratory health.

“Given that this community struggles with high rates of asthma, additional NOx exposure at such high rates could further exacerbate public health issues in a community that already sees more than its fair share of exposure to toxic air pollution,” said Victoria Nelson, formerly an independent environmental engineer with the EPA.

Sarah Gladney, 72, has watched the rapid expansion of xAI’s presence in the Memphis area from her home in the historically Black neighborhood of Boxtown, a few miles from where the company built its Colossus 1 data center in 2024.

“I feel like once they get their foot in the door in Memphis, there will be a continued movement of xAI into other communities,” he said. “It’s all about money and not about the health or well-being of the people who live in or near these communities.”

(Reporting by Disha Raychaudhuri and Valerie Volcovici; photos by Kevin Wurm; editing by David Gaffen, Kat Stafford, Ben Lesser and Richard Valdmanis)