New accusations by the NAACP against Elon Musk say the tech mogul’s Colossus supercomputer and "dirty data center" in Memphis are violating US environmental regulations and polluting nearby Black communities with toxic chemicals – and it should be shut down immediately.
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NAACP accuses Musk’s xAI datacenter in Memphis of environmental racism.
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Dozens of gas turbines emitting harmful pollutants are operating without permits.
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Public officials are urged to issue emergency order for xAI to cease operations immediately.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wrote a letter addressed to the Director of the Shelby County Pubic Health Department (SCHD) last week, accusing health officials of ignoring the community’s plea for action.
Calling out their “lackadaisical approach to the operation of this dirty data center,” the NAACP says the SCHD and the Memphis Light Gas and Water (MLGW) company have allowed “xAI to operate seemingly without constraint or restraint.”
“The message that SCHD and MLGW have sent to the community is that billionaires matter more than the taxpayers and residents who live there,” the letter states, arguing the MLGW has already admitted that Musk’s xAI start-up “did not have to go through public and transparent processes to open.”
The NAACP charges that research for decades has linked fossil fuel emissions to health concerns, which Black communities often bear the brunt of due to centuries of disinvestment, siting of industrial pollution, and intentional decisions to sacrifice their health.
Civil rights group calls out “environmental racism”
Memphis is said to have some of the worst air quality in the region, with levels of ozone above the federal standard, with Black communities suffering from high rates of asthma and cancer risks four times the national average, according to advocacy groups.
“xAI did not choose to start in any community, Musk built his first Southwest Memphis, Tennessee center near Boxtown, which is a historically Black community in the state. This decision perpetuated the trend of industries adding pollution to communities who do not cause the problem,” the NAACP said.
At the heart of the issue are the 35 gas-powered turbines that have popped up on the facility in the past year.
The NAACP said the turbines have been operating without any permitting, essentially allowing xAI to circumvent the federal air quality standards laid out by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Clean Air Act, passed in 1970.
“When xAI decided it wanted to sidestep the law and clean air standards that took decades to craft at a federal and local level, MLGW and SCDH did nothing, “ the NAACP said.
The civil rights organization further charges that xAI began its project with just 18 turbines (which the community initially expressed concerns about last June), seemingly so that the operation would appear much smaller than it actually is.
As Elon Musk runs a massive polluting data center near historically Black neighborhoods in Memphis, state representative @Justinjpearson talks about how environmental racism has impacted his family.
undefined Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 25, 2025
“It's no accident that in this district, in this community, we're four times… pic.twitter.com/YEJSw3gNRf
The NAACP says not only did it take almost a year to finally hold a public hearing on the turbines, but that xAI’s Brent Mayo, the Senior Manager for sit’s infrastructure, upon hearing what hundreds of angry residents had to say, “moments after…left out a side door.”
To be fair, local media outlet Action News 5 reported that Mayo “tried to read a prepared statement” to the emotionally charged crowd, “but was unable to be heard over the roar of those in opposition to the supercomputer.”
The news outlet also posted a copy of the statement Mayo was planning to deliver, in which xAi pledges to work alongside the community to strengthen Memphis and make it a better place to live and work.
Mayo laid out three major initiatives in the xAi manifesto, including its commitment to meeting the highest standards for turbine emissions, improving infrastructure by building a more sustainable electric grid, a new greywater recycling plant, and creating new jobs.
In March, Musk announced plans to expand the supercomputer with the purchase of an additional 1 million square foot industrial park. xAI also leased 13 acres of land as part of a separate deal to build the $80 million Colossus Water Recycle Plant.
Lack of urgency
xAI’s Southwest Memphis data center – the site housing Collusus, the world’s largest supercomputer – was powered up last August to assist training its large langage model chatbot Grok.
Backed by branch members, coalition partners, and the community, the NAACP said public agencies, appointed and elected officials have left the advocates “in the dark at all phases of this process, and have shown no urgency to address their concerns.”
It’s also not the first national organization to take on the county health department and the Musk-founded startup over accusations that the data center has been pumping hazardous pollutants into Memphis communities since last June.
In April, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) lodged its own complaints to the SCHD about the three dozen gas turbines currently operating on the Southern Memphis site and the nitrogen oxide (NOx) and formaldehyde gases they produce.
The SELC claims the 24-hour operating turbines emit harmful carcinogenic pollutants that worsen air quality throughout Memphis and increase risks for asthma and other respiratory illnesses, as well as harmful chemicals like formaldehyde, which is linked to certain types of cancers.
“xAI has essentially built a power plant in South Memphis with no oversight, no permitting, and no regard for families living in nearby communities. These dozens of gas turbines are doing significant harm to the air that Memphians breathe every day. We expect local health leaders to promptly act in order to hold xAI accountable for its clear violations of the Clean Air Act,” SELC Senior Attorney Amanda Garcia has said on the matter.
The NAACP letter states that 35 gas turbines can emit between 1,200 and 2,000 tons of nitrogen oxides per year.
The organization is calling on public officials to:
- Fully examine xAI for its impact on public health
- Fully track the turbines and other emitting equipment onsite and nearby
- Issue an emergency order for xAI to stop operations completely
The NAACP said If there is no emergency order to cease operations, it wants the department to cite the AI company for environmental violations and make xAI provide a reasonable timeline when those violations will end.
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