NAACP threatens to sue Musk's xAI over Mississippi gas turbines powering data center

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

02/13/26 6:31 PM ET


The NAACP on Friday threatened to sue Elon Musk’s AI company xAI, claiming that gas turbines powering a company data center are polluting communities in Mississippi and Tennessee.

“Our communities are not playgrounds for corporations who are chasing profit over people. xAI’s first data center is already creating pollution for Mississippi’s neighbors in Memphis — a community already suffering from decades of disparity — and now they are polluting in Southaven, Mississippi,” NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Director Abre’ Conner said in a statement.

At issue are 27 gas turbines installed by xAI near its second data center Colossus 2 in Southaven, Miss. These turbines “emit smog-forming pollution, fine particulate matter, and hazardous chemicals like formaldehyde,” which can cause health problems including asthma, respiratory illness and certain cancers, the NAACP said.

“Together, xAI’s 27 unpermitted turbines in Southaven have 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,” the organization stated. Conner said the NAACP “will not stand by idly.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/business/5738239-naacp-threatens-sue-xai/

[2naSalit]

1. Do it!

[twodogsbarking]

2. Vote Blue or screw you.

[progree]

3. No mention of greenhouse gasses like CO2 and methane, but oh well, people are tired of hearing

about that,

[jfz9580m]

4. There is a media blackout on environmental issues now

Good on Troy Farah and Sheldon Whitehouse.
(DUer Flashman posted about it in E&E).

https://www.salon.com/2025/12/31/against-trumps-climate-sabotage-a-different-future-is-still-possible/

And hatrack posted this:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/05/flawed-economic-models-mean-climate-crisis-could-crash-global-economy-experts-warn

The goal seems to be to make all flow of information in society so shitty that as another DUer Betty Boom I think mentioned about all the deregulation and firing of federal workers etc, it will be impossible to know what or who to blame as you continue to viscerally feel your life go to shit or worse are lulled/deluded into thinking it is getting better (though like Troy, I am all for the few signs if hope one can find and to start plugging along using those).

[jfz9580m]

5. Yay NAACP

They are awesome..

These were similar stories from last year:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/musk-xai-colossus-supercomputer-boxtown-memphis-tennessee-rcna206242

Still, residents of Boxtown, a nearly all-Black community, have their doubts. “How do we really know what is coming from those facilities?” said Sarah Gladney, 71. “They can tell us anything, but how do we really know?”

Their skepticism has deep roots. For decades, outsiders with big plans have come and gone, sometimes leaving the air worse than they found it. But now the outsider also happens to be one of the country’s most powerful men, one who has been helping to run it alongside President Donald Trump. What happens next could test the limits of Musk’s power and the strength of environmental protections.

In at least two other states, Musk’s companies have run afoul of regulators and have been cited or fined for allegedly breaking environmental rules — Tesla in California, and SpaceX and The Boring Co. in Texas. The companies have denied wrongdoing.

Separately, Trump has vowed to shift the focus of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency has already dismantled teams created under the Biden White House to address environmental justice issues like those now facing Boxtown.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/naacp-musk-xai-supercomputer-colossus-memphis-tennessee-rcna213490