DOJ backs xAI in NAACP suit over unpermitted turbines

The U.S. Department of Justice has intervened in a federal lawsuit to argue that an artificial intelligence data center powered by unpermitted gas turbines must remain operational for national security reasons. The department filed a motion on Monday, June 15, siding with xAI, the AI company founded by Elon Musk, in a case brought by the NAACP over the company's Colossus 2 data center in Southaven, Mississippi.

The NAACP's lawsuit, filed in April, alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act by operating dozens of natural gas turbines without the required environmental permits and pollution controls. The organization initially cited 27 turbines but, according to emails obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center, the number has since grown to 57. The legal group states this expansion has driven a 111 percent increase in nitrogen oxide emissions, an 83 percent increase in fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and an 88 percent increase in formaldehyde emissions since April.

In its filing, the Justice Department contends that shutting down the turbines, and by extension the data center, would threaten American national, economic, and energy security. The department argues the...