SOUTHAVEN — The NAACP, represented by Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center, filed a federal lawsuit seeking an immediate shutdown of gas-powered turbines at Elon Musk’s xAI data center near Southaven, Mississippi, alleging violations of the Clean Air Act. The facility, which powers supercomputers Colossus 1 and Colossus 2, recently expanded from 27 to 33 gas-powered turbines.

The lawsuit claims the turbines constitute an unpermitted power plant that bypasses environmental safeguards. The NAACP argues the emissions disproportionately affect nearby communities, including Southaven—a residential area about one-third Black—and Boxtown, a predominantly Black Memphis neighborhood founded by freedmen located near the Colossus 1 facility.

According to the NAACP, the turbines are likely the leading source of nitrogen oxide emissions in the greater Memphis area. Nitrogen oxides contribute to smog, a persistent problem in northern Mississippi and Memphis. DeSoto County, Mississippi, and Shelby County, Tennessee, recently received F grades for smog pollution from the American Lung Association.

Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice, said Musk’s expansion of an “unpermitted” power plant is an end run around environmental safeguards and shows xAI’s “blatant disregard for the law.” She added that adding six more turbines “further exacerbates the health risks facing families in North Mississippi and the Greater Memphis region.” Conner also stated, “We will not stand by and idly watch as the Clean Air Act is ignored. We will continue to fight to ensure all polluters, including billionaires’ companies, understand that the law is not to be treated as a suggestion while local communities bear the consequences.”

Ben Grillot, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the court must act “in order to protect communities in North Mississippi and Memphis from the tech company’s harmful pollution.”