NAACP sues Elon Musk's xAI over Memphis data center air pollution

The NAACP filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI on Tuesday, accusing the artificial intelligence company of violating the Clean Air Act with its use of natural gas-burning turbines to power data centers in and around Memphis, Tennessee.The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, alleges that between August and December 2025, xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech, LLC, installed and operated 27 gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, "without an air permit or regard for the health and safety of people living nearby." The 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 for the companies to "cease operating the Colossus Gas Plant unless and until they obtain the required permits; to apply the necessary pollution controls; and to pay appropriate civil penalties for each day of violation.""Our right to clean air is not up for negotiation, especially when companies prove expediency not people is their priority," Abre' Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental and Climate Justice, said in an e-mailed statement.xAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Now owned by SpaceX after its merger this year, xAI has been using the natural gas-burning turbines for months at its facility in Southaven, Mississippi, claiming that no federal permit was required because they were only for temporary use. The company operates the Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centers in Memphis, just across the Mississippi state line. The company is planning to build another named Macrohardrr in Southaven, where it is also building a more permanent power plant that will use 41 natural gas-burning turbines to power the data centers.Tens of thousands of people live, work and study near xAI's power plant, according to the suit, and hundreds of thousands more live in greater Memphis. The filing notes that "a much larger share of this population is Black than that of the country's population as a whole." Separately, the NAACP wants Mississippi state regulators to revoke a permit granted to xAI in March that allowed Musk's company to build out its massive power plant in Southaven with 41 permanent turbines.Musk, who is the world's richest person, has been counting on the greater Memphis area to serve as the backbone for xAI's buildout, as it tries to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in the booming AI market. The company sparked regulatory probes by the EU Commission and U.K. 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 real people, including children, who did not consent.Amid that controversy, SpaceX acquired xAI in February in a transaction that values the combined entity at $1.25 trillion, ahead of what's expected to be a record IPO in the coming months. The NAACP is being represented in the case by Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center. Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inboxGet this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.© 2026 Versant Media, LLC.

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