The NAACP\u2019s attempt to shut down gas-fired turbines that power data centers that support xAI\u2019s Grok chatbot threatens national security and must be dismissed, the Justice Department said in a Mississippi federal court filing. <\/p>\n
The NAACP\u2019s lawsuit argues the turbines disproportionately harm communities of color and lack a required permit under the Clean Air Act. <\/p>\n
But the organization\u2019s lawsuit \u201cthreatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War\u2019s military operations,\u201d the Justice Department said in its Monday motion to intervene and dismiss the case. <\/p>\n
The Justice Department argued in its motion that the case should also be dismissed because the Clean Air Act doesn\u2019t allow citizen-enforcement actions that seek relief the federal government chooses to \u201cforgo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAllowing this action to proceed over the United States\u2019 objection would essentially cede principal enforcement authority to the NAACP,\u201d the brief says. \u201cThe Clean Air Act does not contemplate, let alone require, that result.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mississippi\u2019s Department of Environmental Quality found that the turbines didn\u2019t require Clean Air Act permits, according to the DOJ\u2019s brief, and the state says a shutdown would \u201ccreate an immediate and substantial disruption to the State\u2019s economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NAACP in April sued<\/a> Elon Musk\u2019s xAI Corp. and its subsidiary MZX Tech LLC in the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi for installing several gas-powered turbines in Southaven, Miss., to power its Colossus II data center in Tennessee without obtaining air permits. Such actions put predominantly Black communities on both sides of the states\u2019 border at risk, the lawsuit said. The group also moved<\/a> for a preliminary injunction in May to stop the turbines from operating. <\/p>\n