“At public meetings and gatherings, sometimes attended by hundreds, community members have expressed their concerns. Kelly Jacobs said, ‘Just because they’re here it doesn’t make it right. We’re dying. My husband is suffering and it’s because of the pollution. We need to turn them off.’ Boxtown resident Sarah Gladney said, ‘It is our right to protest. It is our right to fight for life. We the people deserve to breathe clean air.'”
Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, without community input, began building his Colossus xAI data center, called the world’s largest supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee in 2024. Since then, it has grown to include four data centers across 1,100 acres between Memphis and Southaven, Mississippi. These towns are some of the poorest in the U.S. and have high percentages of Black residents.
The local power structure have assisted Musk. Bobby White of the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce said of the secretive deal with Musk, “Community members are not the same as stockholders in a company that are required to be communicated with.” Musk praised the support he has received: “This is insane execution speed by xAI and the state of Mississippi. We are grateful to Governor Reeves for his support of building xAI at warp speed.”
To meet the data center’s massive power needs, xAI willfully installed unpermitted methane gas turbine generators, classified as mobile temporary units, to sidestep environmental regulation, knowing the communities would be harmed. These generators were installed without the pollution controls required by the Clean Air Act.
“This is a clean, clear-cut case of environmental racism,” said Tennessee State Rep. Justin J. Pearson to the Tennessee Lookout, whose district includes part of the area. “Communities that have been historically polluted are consistently being polluted by new entrants and new corporations — that’s the playbook that they’re following.”
Gas generators release smog-forming pollution and harmful chemicals tied to asthma, respiratory illnesses, heart problems, and even certain types of cancer.
Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that large methane gas turbines, even temporary ones, require permits, refuting arguments from the Shelby County Health Department, Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, and Memphis Mayor Paul Young that there is a “loophole” allowing the mobile “temporary” turbines to run without permits.
Local environmental justice organizations such as Young, Gifted and Green, Memphis Community Against Pollution, Protect Our Aquifer, Tigers Against Pollution, and The Safe and Sound Coalition, were assisted by organizations such as the Southern Environmental Law Center, EarthJustice, and the NAACP. Together they have mobilized residents and fought the xAI complex.
Their focus is opposition to the highly polluting gas turbines, the extremely high decibel noise emitted by the data centers, and concerns about electricity and water usage. Rep. Pearson has called for a moratorium on additional data centers. He also said, “Why aren’t we making polluters pay for being in Memphis and Shelby County?”
At public meetings and gatherings, sometimes attended by hundreds, community members express their concerns:
Kelly Jacobs said, “Just because they’re here it doesn’t make it right. We’re dying. My husband is suffering and it’s because of the pollution. We need to turn them off.” Boxtown resident Sarah Gladney said “It is our right to protest. It is our right to fight for life. We the people deserve to breathe clean air.” Richard Massey, a University of Memphis student, said that the operation of the methane gas turbines was the “slow lynching of their neighbors.” Ninth grader, Johnathan Williams said, “Our health is not for sale, and our environment really means a lot to us because we live in it.”
In March, The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) issued an order for the removal of 69 unpermitted turbines — most by the end of the year, but a few will be allowed until a few months later.
The Department also granted permits to xAI for 41 permanent gas turbines just three weeks after residents spoke up to voice unanimous opposition at a public hearing in Southaven. According to the department, the permits were written in consultation with the EPA to conform to federal law, requiring xAI to equip its gas turbines with pollution control technologies. However, residents remain skeptical that the company will obey permitting requirements.
In April, the NAACP sued xAI over the original twenty-seven gas turbines that were installed in Southaven in 2025, saying they violated the federal Clean Air Act by running them without proper permits or pollution controls. The suit calls for xAI to cease operation until the required permits are obtained; to apply the necessary pollution controls; and to pay appropriate civil penalties for each day of violation. But the U.S. Department of Justice and the EPA have now sided with Musk and asked the federal court to dismiss the NAACP case!
The struggle continues. There are still 41 permanent permitted gas turbines spewing harmful pollution unless proper controls are applied, as required by MDEQ’s order, and the EPA, plus the other unpermitted ones that won’t be removed until 2027. And, as always, it is the community, not Musk’s project, that has to wait.
Karel Riley works with the People’s Tribuneand Tribuno del Pueblo, as a writer and contributor on human rights and women’s issues. “I’ve been a feminist since early adulthood. As a clerical worker, I joined a union drive with AFSCME seeking comparable wages to men for female-dominated jobs, and we were partially successful. In the mid-80’s our union participated in the historic Hormel strike in Minnesota. Later, I joined support for a local welfare rights organization,” she says.
