US EditionxAI Gets an Air Permit to Power Its Supercomputer, but Pollution Fears Remain
SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE, JUL 3 – The permit allows operation of 15 gas turbines with strict emission limits despite protests and legal challenges citing health risks in a majority-Black Memphis neighborhood.
- Elon Musk's AI startup xAI secured a permit this week from the Shelby County Health Department to operate 15 gas turbines at its Memphis data center.
- The permit follows months of protests and legal threats citing Clean Air Act violations for operating dozens of turbines without prior approval.
- The permit limits xAI to 22 startups and shutdowns per year, total 110 hours annually, requires emissions monitoring, and controls pollution from the 15 turbines producing up to 247 megawatts.
- Despite xAI's claim of using state-of-the-art emissions controls and having the lowest emitting facility of its kind, environmental groups continue monitoring and express concerns over pollution transparency and health risks to Memphis residents.
- XAI plans another data center in Memphis but has not disclosed its power source, and ongoing scrutiny suggests continued tensions between economic development and environmental oversight.
23 Articles
23 Articles
In South Memphis, Elon Musk’s Colossus Operated Gas Turbines Without Appropriate Permits, Residents and Activists Claim - Inside Climate News
In an area long plagued by air pollution, permitting irregularities have opponents of what’s predicted to be the world’s largest supercomputing facility fearing the world’s richest man is getting special treatment.
Elon Musk Obtains Permit to Spew Pollution
In the city that built the blues, Elon Musk's xAI data center has been given permission to keep polluting the air with fumes from burning methane gas — which it had already been doing so without authorization for a year. As Wired reports, Memphis' local health department has granted an air permit for the xAI data center, allowing it to keep operating the methane gas turbines that power Musk's Grok chatbot and Colossus, the gigantic supercomputer…
Musk AI facility sparks backlash over potential health threats to local residents: 'The city failed to measure'
A Memphis city government air quality test found that the air pollution near Elon Musk's xAI data center isn't a threat, Teslarati reported. However, some local groups claim the findings don't tell the whole story. They argued the testing overlooked the site's biggest pollution source — its turbines. According to the City of Memphis, tests ran for 12 hours daily on June 13 and 16. A third-party partner installed air monitors at the City Hall, Ma…
Elon Musk's xAI Hires Trump Aide Stephen Miller's Wife Katie Amid Controversial Memphis Data Center Permit Win - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD)
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI has hired Katie Miller, wife of President Donald Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, as a communications manager just as the company secured a controversial permit for its Memphis data center operations.
Boxtown residents worried after gas turbine approval
MEMPHIS, Tenn. --- People who live in the Boxtown community have concerns after the Shelby County Health Department gave xAI the green light to operate 15 natural gas turbines. Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer project has sparked an ongoing debate in the city of Memphis. On Wednesday, the Shelby County Health Department approved xAI’s permit to operate 15 natural gas turbines as secondary emergency power backups. xAI receives permit for 15 pow…
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