SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (WMC) – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) alleges that xAI violated the Clean Air Act by operating dozens of methane gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, before an air permit was granted.<\/p>\n
The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) and Earthjustice, representing the civil rights group, filed a lawsuit against the tech company and its subsidiary MZX Tech on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The groups announced their intent to sue over xAI\u2019s power plant in Southaven back in February.<\/a><\/p>\n In March, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality granted an air permit<\/a> for xAI\u2019s 27 gas-powered turbines at the facility, which powers the Colossus 2 data center in South Memphis.<\/p>\n The lawsuit filed Tuesday says that xAI violated the Clean Air Act by operating the turbines before the permit was granted.<\/p>\n NAACP officials say the plant\u2019s turbines \u201chave the potential to emit a staggering amount of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx), likely making the facility the largest industrial source of NOx in the 11-county Memphis metropolitan area.\u201d<\/p>\n The NAACP is also among several activist groups appealing<\/a> the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality\u2019s decision to grant the air permit preemptively.<\/p>\n \u201cxAI\u2019s continued operation of these turbines without a permit and without adequate pollution controls is not only illegal, it\u2019s an insult to families living nearby who for months have expressed serious concerns about how air pollution from the company\u2019s personal power plant could impact their health and well-being,\u201d SELC Senior Attorney Ben Grillot said. \u201cxAI must be held accountable for its reckless, unlawful actions\u2014and that\u2019s exactly what this lawsuit aims to do.\u201d <\/p>\n The NAACP is asking the court to declare that xAI has violated the Clean Air Act, force xAI to stop operating unpermitted turbines at its Southaven facility, order xAI to install \u201cthe best available control technology\u201d on the plant, and assess financial penalties to xAI for every day it violated federal law.<\/p>\n \u201cxAI has been pumping illegal pollution into this community in its rush to power the \u2018Colossus 2\u2019 data center. No company \u2013 and no industry \u2013 has a free license to pollute our air,\u201d said Laura Thoms, the director of enforcement for Earthjustice. \u201cxAI isn\u2019t above the law, and we\u2019re filing this lawsuit to hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n