Elon Musk's xAI company has installed and launched 20 more gas turbines than the permit allowed at its facility in Memphis, Tennessee.
This is reported by CNBC with reference to a letter from the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), a human rights group.
Artificial intelligence startup xAI has installed a “whopping 35 gas turbines” to meet the needs of its data center. According to the lawyers, this fact was discovered using aerial photography and “other data”. The human rights group said that xAI had applied for the temporary use of only 15 turbines.
The installed turbines run on methane. They generate energy for the Colossus supercomputer complex, which powers the Grok chatbot. Initially, the data center could only receive 8 MW of electricity, which was not enough. Therefore, the company installed additional units to compensate for the energy shortage.
Elon Musk founded xAI in 2023 and made the company a centerpiece of his artificial intelligence ambitions. Last year, the xAI team began training its AI models in a data center in Memphis using 100,000 Nvidia H100 processors.
Why it is dangerous
In its letter, the SELC notes that xAI is operating more turbines “illegally, without any air emissions permit,” and that the local community is already “severely overburdened by industrial pollution.”
Human rights activists claim that xAI emits between 1,200 and 2,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) per year. Therefore, this facility is probably the largest industrial source of these pollutants in Memphis.
Environmentalists and lawyers have been raising alarms about the possible harmful effects of high levels of nitrogen oxides and the increased risk of death of the local population from respiratory diseases.
At a public hearing in Shelby County on April 9, residents expressed concerns about the use of xAI turbines powered by natural gas and the health problems that could arise if strong mitigation measures are not taken.
Easter Mae Knox, who lives near the xAI facility, said her family suffers from chronic respiratory illnesses. She said she wants to be able to wake up early in the morning and open the windows in her home.
“But when I open the window, I smell all the smells except the right one, and the right one is clean air. Elon Musk has all the money. He is a millionaire, a billionaire, whatever he is. But we need clean air!” she said.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, US President Donald Trump signed a decree to restore the American coal industry, describing it as “clean, beautiful and essential to national energy security.”
