Judge Lets NAACP Pollution Suit Against xAI Proceed in Memphis

A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit accusing xAI of running gas turbines at its Memphis, Tennessee data center campus without the required permits, according to Engadget. US District Judge Debra M. Brown issued the ruling, which means the case brought by the NAACP can continue.

The NAACP sued xAI in April, arguing that the company now known as SpaceXSI powered its Memphis-area data centers with methane gas turbines that lacked permits and that the operations broke the Clean Air Act, Engadget reported. The judge's decision keeps those claims alive for now.

Central to the dispute was xAI's argument that the lawsuit should be dismissed because its turbines counted as mobile units and therefore did not need permits. Judge Brown rejected that position, writing that the power plant supplying the data center was not mobile and so did not qualify for the exemption.

The company had also drawn backing from the Justice Department, which argued that xAI's operations form a key part of US military activity, according to Engadget. That support did not persuade the court to end the case at this stage.

The legal fight has continued while xAI keeps expanding its power capacity. The NAACP's suit also alleged Clean Air Act violations, and the company went on adding more gas turbines at a separate AI data center site in Southhaven, Mississippi, a community near Memphis.

The ruling lands as AI firms race to build out data centers to meet heavy computing demands, and as residents living near those sites grow more resistant to the construction. Neighbors have become increasingly opposed to the buildouts, a backdrop that gives the Memphis case wider attention.

For now, the NAACP's claims will proceed before the court, with xAI still facing allegations that its Memphis turbines operated without proper permits.