In the heart of Memphis, where tight-knit neighborhoods like Boxtown have long battled environmental injustice, tensions are rising again, this time, with Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, at the center of controversy.
The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) announced Tuesday their intent to sue xAI over air pollution from its data center, which operates near predominantly Black communities. The supercomputing facility, launched in 2023, is powered partly by gas turbines that environmental groups say are releasing harmful emissions, without first securing the required air quality permits.
A legal letter, according to an AP report, has been sent to xAI, serving as a 60-day notice of an intent to sue under the Clean Air Act. The SELC, representing the NAACP, says xAI is violating federal environmental laws and placing Memphis residents who already suffer from high pollution levels at further risk.
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“There is no such exemption for turbines,” said SELC attorney Patrick Anderson at a news conference, challenging the company’s claim that it was allowed to operate without a permit for up to 364 days. “And regardless, it has now been more than 364 days.”
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The Shelby County Health Department is reviewing xAI’s belated permit application, which has drawn over 1,700 public comments. The permit acknowledges the facility “will be an area source for hazardous air pollutants.”
Critics argue that xAI’s operations have deepened environmental inequality in a city that already earned an “F” for ozone pollution from the American Lung Association. Residents and activists have decried the lack of community notice and the speed with which the data center, located in a South Memphis industrial park, was allowed to scale up operations.
“They installed the turbines without any oversight,” Anderson said, noting that aerial surveillance revealed up to 35 turbines running—despite xAI’s formal request to operate only 15.
In its defense, xAI maintains that it’s complying with all legal requirements and contributing to Memphis’s economic development.
“The temporary power generation units are operating in compliance with all applicable laws,” the company said in a statement.
It also emphasized investments that include a $35 million power substation, an $80 million water recycling facility, and contributions expected to exceed $100 million in local tax revenue.
“This tax revenue will support vital programs like public safety, health and human services, education, firefighters, police, parks and so much more,” said company representative Brent Mayo during a heated April community meeting.
But for many, especially in Boxtown, no financial windfall can outweigh the cost of compromised health. Founded by freed slaves in the 1860s, Boxtown has resisted decades of industrial expansion. It successfully fended off a proposed oil pipeline in 2021 after sustained protest efforts led by state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, who is again at the forefront of this new battle.
“Clean air is a human right,” Pearson declared. “There is not a person, no matter how wealthy or how powerful, that can deny the fact that everybody has a right to breathe clean air.”
Drawing a biblical comparison, he told residents: “We’re all right to be David, because we know how the story ends.”
Memphis Mayor Paul Young, meanwhile, has sought to strike a balance. In a recent newsletter, he assured the public that no tax incentives have been extended to xAI and promised that 25% of its property tax contributions would be reinvested in neighborhoods within a five-mile radius.
“Let’s be clear, this isn’t a debate between the environment and economics,” Young said. “It’s about putting people before politics.”
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