xAI Installs 19 Gas Turbines Amid Active Lawsuit
▼ Summary
– xAI installed 19 portable natural gas turbines at its Southaven, Mississippi data center between late March and early May, bringing the total to 46 turbines at the site.
– The additions occurred while xAI faces a lawsuit from the NAACP and environmental groups alleging Clean Air Act violations for operating turbines without permits.
– Internal emails show xAI added over 500 megawatts of natural gas turbine capacity since mid-March, with eight turbines installed after the lawsuit was filed.
– Regulators in Mississippi and Tennessee claim xAI can operate portable turbines for a year without permits under the Clean Air Act, but environmental groups argue the new turbines are not covered by existing permits.
– Burning natural gas releases planet-warming emissions and worsens air quality, and the original Colossus 1 site in Memphis faced criticism for operating turbines without a permit in a historically Black neighborhood.
Over the past two months, xAI has installed 19 natural gas turbines at its second data center campus in Southhaven, Mississippi, according to internal emails reviewed by WIRED. This expansion brings the total number of turbines operating at the site to 46, with the additions occurring between late March and early May.
The move comes as xAI faces an active lawsuit from the NAACP and several environmental groups, who allege the company is violating the Clean Air Act by running more than two dozen natural gas turbines without proper air permits. The suit, filed in April, initially targeted 27 turbines at the Southaven location. Now, newly obtained records reveal a much larger operation.
Emails between a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality official and a representative from Trinity Consultants, obtained through a public records request by the Southern Environmental Law Center, include a spreadsheet with a column labeled “Total Power Output.” That data suggests xAI has added more than 500 megawatts of natural gas turbine capacity since mid-March. The new turbines are part of a site dubbed Colossus 2, a name first reported by Mississippi Today.
Burning natural gas releases planet-warming emissions and can degrade local air quality. Neither MDEQ nor xAI responded to WIRED’s requests for comment. MDEQ spokesperson Jan Schaefer told Mississippi Today that the facility claims all portable and temporary turbines are equipped with control technology to minimize emissions. She added, “MDEQ is evaluating the situation and will make the facility aware as to when it can no longer bring additional portable/temporary turbines on-site.”
Ben Grillot, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the organization first spotted six additional turbines during a drone flyover in April. Only after reviewing the MDEQ emails did the team realize the total was actually 19 new turbines. According to the email timestamps, eight of those 19 units , representing more than 200 megawatts of output , were installed after the lawsuit was filed.
xAI’s original data center, Colossus 1, sits across the state line in Memphis, Tennessee, in the historically Black neighborhood of Boxtown, an area with long-standing air quality concerns. That site drew widespread criticism in 2024 after locals alleged gas turbines were running without a permit. Regulators in both Tennessee and Mississippi have argued that because xAI’s turbines are classified as portable or temporary, the company has up to a year to operate them without permits under the Clean Air Act.
Last July, Memphis’ local health department granted a permit for the Colossus 1 turbines despite intense community opposition. In March of this year, facing similar outcry, MDEQ issued an air permit for the Southaven site to run 41 gas turbines. However, the SELC contends that the 27 turbines named in the lawsuit and the 19 added recently are not covered by that permit. Neither xAI nor MDEQ would confirm to WIRED whether the new turbines fall under the March permit. Drone footage and public records obtained by the news outlet Floodlight show that multiple turbines at the Southaven site were operating in the weeks before the permit was granted.
Got a Tip? If you are a current or former xAI employee with information about these developments, contact reporter Molly Taft securely on Signal at mollytaft.76 using a nonwork phone or computer.
(Source: Wired)
