NAACP lawsuit over xAI data center pollution advances

A federal judge has denied xAI's motion to dismiss an NAACP lawsuit accusing the SpaceX-owned AI company of failing to obtain the permits needed to run the gas turbines that power its Colossus data center outside Memphis. The ruling, issued by Judge Debra M. Brown, means the Clean Air Act case can move forward.

The lawsuit, filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the NAACP, alleges that xAI “installed and operated at least 35 combustion turbines and other sources of air pollution at the Colossus site without ever obtaining the necessary preconstruction or operating air permits.” xAI had asked the court to throw the case out, arguing the turbines are mobile and therefore exempt, and that the plaintiffs lacked standing.

Judge Brown was unpersuaded. According to her decision, the plaintiffs have statutory standing under the Clean Air Act, the combustion turbines do not qualify as “mobile sources” under Mississippi's State Implementation Plan, and the citizen suit provision does not violate Article II of the Constitution. “The plaintiffs' claims will proceed,” she wrote.

On xAI's claim that citizen lawsuits of this kind are unconstitutional, the judge said plaintiffs suing on their own behalf, in their own name, and seeking penalties that redress harm to themselves are not exercising the federal government's executive power. A similar motion to dismiss from the Department of Justice was denied earlier in the month.

TechCrunch has reached out to SpaceX for comment. In a statement, the NAACP's director of environmental and climate justice, Abre' Connor, called the ruling “another important victory in our effort to hold xAI accountable,” adding: “xAI cannot operate gas turbines without the required permits.”

The case is advancing at a moment when public opinion appears to have turned sharply against data centers. New York recently passed a moratorium on new data centers, and other state and local governments are weighing similar measures.