Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has been granted a permit to run methane gas generators at its massive datacenter in Memphis, Tennessee. The county health department approved the permit for the 15 machines late on Wednesday, a move that has sparked outcry from the local community and environmental leaders, who say the generators pollute their neighborhoods.
“Our local leaders are entrusted with protecting us from corporations violating on our right to clean air, but we are witnessing their failure to do so,” said KeShaun Pearson, the director of the local environmental non-profit Memphis Community Against Pollution.
xAI set up its massive datacenter in Memphis roughly a year ago. To supplement the facility’s heavy power usage, the company brought in dozens of portable methane gas generators. xAI did not have a permit for the generators, but seemed to have found a loophole in the system that allowed it to use the turbines as long as they were not in the same location for more than 364 days.
In January, xAI did apply for a permit for 15 generators – even though it had been running up to 35 generators on-site, according to photographs. After months of public forums and community protests, the Shelby county health department issued the permit. A satellite image that the Southern Environmental Law Center, a legal non-profit, took on Tuesday and shared with the Guardian shows at least 24 turbines still set up at xAI’s facility.
“xAI welcomes today’s decision,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “Our onsite power generation will be equipped with state-of-the-art emissions control technology, making this facility the lowest emitting of its kind in the country.”
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Environmental groups dispute whether xAI’s power usage will actually be low emitting. The Southern Environmental Law Center has conducted studies on the pollution that the turbines emit and says they have the capacity to emit thousands of tons of harmful nitrogen oxides, along with toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde.
“The decision to give xAI an air permit for its polluting gas turbines flies in the face of the hundreds of Memphians who spoke out against the company’s permit request,” said Amanda Garcia, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. She added that the health department is allowing “another polluter to set up shop in this already overburdened community without appropriate protections”.
xAI is in the industrial zone in Memphis, which is surrounded by several neighborhoods where residents have long dealt with pollution. The area is historically Black and has higher rates of respiratory diseases and asthma and a lower life expectancy than other parts of the city. Studies have shown these neighborhoods also have a cancer risk four times higher than the national average.
The pollution coming out of xAI, along with its proximity to Black neighborhoods, has caught the attention of the NAACP civil rights group. It has initiated a lawsuit against xAI alleging the company is violating the Clean Air Act by illegally installing and operating the methane gas generators.
“While the NAACP is glad that 15 of xAI’s turbines are now subject to greater transparency and accountability around their methane gas emissions … this decision ignores the community pushback,” Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice, said in statement on Thursday. “We are still committed to holding xAI and the health department accountable.”