The NAACP, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, filed a federal lawsuit against xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech for operating 27 unpermitted gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, to power its Colossus 2 data center and Grok chatbot. The turbines — still mounted on the tractor trailers that delivered them — could emit more than 1,700 tons of nitrogen oxides per year, potentially making the facility the largest industrial NOx source in the greater Memphis area, a region already failing national smog standards. Additional projected emissions: 180 tons of fine particulate matter, 500 tons of carbon monoxide, and 19 tons of formaldehyde annually.
Separately, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) launched an investigation noting that xAI used the same playbook at its Colossus 1 facility in South Memphis, where thermal imagery showed over 30 unpermitted turbines running in a neighborhood where cancer risk is already four times the national average. An xAI senior manager reportedly said the company planned to “copy and paste” the approach. Despite overwhelming community opposition, the Mississippi DEQ approved xAI's permit application for 41 permanent turbines just three weeks after the public comment period closed.