In an unusually aggressive move, the Justice Department told a federal court in Mississippi that Elon Musk\u2019s artificial intelligence company, xAI, has the right to run dozens of polluting gas-burning turbines in the state despite not having permits for them.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department late on Monday said that the court should throw out a lawsuit against xAI<\/a> that was brought by the NAACP claiming that the turbines violate the Clean Air Act. The suit threatens national security by \u201cseeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War\u2019s military operations,\u201d according to the memo, which was signed by Stanley Woodward Jr., associate attorney general and the No. 3 official in the department.<\/p>\n The memo also argued that the federal government should have unchallenged authority to stop environmental lawsuits brought by private groups or individuals.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s remarkable for the United States to intervene on behalf of a polluter in a case like this,\u201d said Laura Thoms, director of enforcement at Earthjustice, which represents the NAACP along with the Southern Environmental Law Center. \u201cOrdinarily, they would intervene to enforce the law,\u201d she said, referring to the Clean Air Act, which requires facilities like power plants to seek permits and install pollution-control technologies.<\/p>\n Ms. Thoms, who until last year was an assistant chief for environmental enforcement at the Justice Department, also said that to her knowledge the department hasn\u2019t previously argued that it should have the power to reject citizens\u2019 lawsuits on its own authority.<\/p>\n A representative of xAI didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n The NAACP sued xAI in April to challenge the company\u2019s use of unpermitted gas turbines for data centers near the Tennessee-Mississippi border.<\/p>\n The lawsuit argues that the company was violating the Clean Air Act and is polluting Black neighborhoods near the facilities. The language of the Clean Air Act, the main law governing air pollution in the United States, says that individuals and groups can file what it calls \u201ccitizen suits\u201d against companies or government agencies to compel enforcement of environmental laws. The suits have long been a mainstay for environmental groups.<\/p>\n In its memo, the Justice Department cited the president\u2019s determination that expansion of energy infrastructure was a major priority in order to enhance \u201cglobal A.I. dominance.\u201d And it argued that the federal government has power to quash the NAACP\u2019S \u201ccitizen suit\u201d and that individual citizens and groups cannot pursue Clean Air Act enforcement over the federal government\u2019s objections.<\/p>\n Ms. Thoms said that, under the Clean Air Act, there was no national security exemption for complying with the claims.<\/p>\n On Tuesday Mr. Woodward, the associate attorney general who signed the memo, said in a statement that the \u201cultimate responsibility for enforcing federal law belongs to the executive branch, not private interest groups.\u201d He said the department was \u201ccommitted to maintaining that constitutional order while protecting national security and promoting American energy and innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n Updated\u00a0<\/p>\n June 17, 2026, 3:52 p.m. ET<\/p>\n The NAACP\u2019s lawsuit names xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech as defendants and takes issue with their use of portable, natural-gas-powered turbines to help power Grok, xAI\u2019s artificial intelligence product. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality had determined that the state did not require Clean Air Act permits for the turbines.<\/p>\n The NAACP alleges that xAI currently operates 57 gas turbines in Mississippi to power its Colossus 2 data center, located near the border of Tennessee, without pollution controls required by the Clean Air Act.<\/p>\n That makes the facility one of the country\u2019s biggest single industrial sources of smog-forming nitrogen oxide, the plaintiffs allege, as well as significant source of other harmful air pollutants like particulate matter and formaldehyde, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups like children, older adults and low-income or minority households.<\/p>\n The lawsuit seeks penalties of roughly $124,000 per day per violation, and an injunction ordering the company to stop operating the turbines. xAI has said the turbines are temporary, and therefore exempt from more stringent permitting requirements. xAI is now a part of SpaceX, Mr. Musk\u2019s rocket venture, which recently began trading on the stock market, making Mr. Musk a trillionaire<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a time when the ultra-rich seem to be protected and supported by some of our government entities, it is important that polluting industries don\u2019t get to benefit at the expense of the health of Black communities,\u201d Abre\u2019 Conner, NAACP\u2019s director of environmental and climate justice, said on Tuesday. \u201cCitizen suits are a bedrock insurance policy for communities to hold polluters accountable for decisions that cause them harm.\u201d<\/p>\n