Elon Musk’s xAI has been illegally operating dozens of natural gas turbines to power its Colossus data centers in Tennessee, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled Thursday. The AI company has argued that because the turbines were being used on a temporary basis, they were exempt from regulations. The EPA disagreed and issued its final rule on the matter, which has been in the works for over a year, declaring that xAI was in violation.
The power plants drew the ire of local communities and legal organizations. The company was facing a lawsuit for contributing more ozone and particulate emissions in an already polluted region. The company was operating as many as 35 turbines, and only 15 were ultimately permitted. Today, xAI has 12 turbines providing power to its data centers there.
I’m surprised that 1) we still have an EPA and 2) that it ruled against xAI in this case. Time will tell if the company runs into similar legal issues in the state of Mississippi, where the company is currently operating 18 natural gas turbines just south of the state line, on Stanton Road. That power is then piped a few miles north to xAI’s second site in Memphis:
Public records indicate regulators “signed off on the turbines operating without an air-emissions permit using the same loophole in federal environmental regulations as the Shelby County Health Department did in Memphis,” according to The Daily Memphian.
Plans reportedly include up to 41 turbines being used, six more than were spinning in Memphis at the height of their usage. This should have been no surprise to anyone paying attention.
As has been the case in Memphis itself, some citizens are not happy about this. Brandon LaGrone II, reporting for The Daily Memphian, back on January 7:
Tensions between Southaven leadership and residents reached a fever pitch Tuesday night as a packed room of citizens demanded action against the noise and environmental impact of the new xAI facility.
The group, known as the Safe and Sound Coalition, attended the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting to demand an immediate halt to operations at the xAI facility located at 2875 Stanton Road.
They brought a petition with over 700 signatures from residents in Southaven, Horn Lake and Memphis, a significant increase from the 400 signatures reported just weeks prior.
The meeting at Southaven’s City Hall had nearly every seat filled by concerned citizens. The atmosphere was charged from the moment Mayor Darren Musselwhite opened the session.
Immediately following the prayer and pledge of allegiance, Musselwhite issued a stern warning regarding the conduct of the assembly.
“What we’re doing here tonight, this is a city board meeting by state law,” Musselwhite said. “It is not a public forum, although we do like to hear from our citizens at all times. It is not a place for political expression or debate. There will be order in the meeting.”
The mayor emphasized his authority to preside over the gathering, warning that anyone speaking out of turn would be removed.
I have reached out to Musselwhite’s office a couple of times over the last several months, but have never heard back from anyone there. He has continued to back the company and its use of turbines to power, but has made no comment about xAI’s Grok being used to create nonconsensual sexual deepfakes.1
- If you are somehow still using X, now really is the time to leave. Do you really want to be using a platform where this sort of material is just one mention away from popping into your timeline? ↩