xAI exposed for running illegal gas turbines to power its supercomputer facility in Memphis
- Marijan Hassan - Tech Journalist
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is facing mounting backlash after environmental and community advocates accused the company of violating federal clean air laws and exposing South Memphis neighborhoods to dangerous levels of toxic pollution from dozens of unpermitted gas turbines.
In a formal complaint submitted Wednesday, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) called on the Tennessee-run Shelby County Health Department to take emergency action against xAI. It said the AI company illegally constructed and operated around 35 methane-burning turbines at its Southwest Memphis supercomputing facility since last summer.
The turbines power Colossus, the massive data center behind xAI’s ChatGPT competitor, Grok. But SELC and residents say the cost of AI innovation is being paid by the lungs and lives of nearby communities - most of which are low-income and majority Black.
“This isn’t just a violation—it’s a desecration,” said KeShaun Pearson, director of Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP). “Suffocating our community with formaldehyde and nitrogen oxide from these 35 dirty, unpermitted gas turbines shows the blatant disregard for the lives of South Memphis residents.”
The SELC’s 13-page letter shows a stark portrait: xAI began operating its gas turbines without obtaining legally required air permits. The group says the turbines emit dangerous levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) - a criteria pollutant regulated by the EPA that contributes to smog, acid rain, and respiratory illness - and carcinogens like formaldehyde.
These emissions are not only illegal under the Clean Air Act, SELC argues, but uniquely harmful in an area already grappling with some of the worst pollution-linked health outcomes in the country.
“We already bear the brunt of environmental injustice,” said LaTricea Adams, president of Young, Gifted & Green. “It is the moral obligation of our health department to protect us, not enable the exploitation of our neighborhoods for the profit of billionaire corporations.”
The images provided by SELC appear to show dozens of industrial gas turbines lined up outside the data center facility, which spans an area of 13 football fields. According to SELC estimates, the units produce up to 420 megawatts of power—enough to run a city the size of New Orleans.
“xAI has essentially built a power plant in South Memphis with no oversight, no permitting, and no regard for families living in nearby communities,” Amanda Garcia, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a statement. “These dozens of gas turbines are doing significant harm to the air Memphians breathe every day.”
