SpaceXAI, the AI division of SpaceX, operates dozens of unpermitted gas turbines, and it’s disproportionately impacting the Black communities living near them, according to a Reuters report from Tuesday.
Elon Musk owns an estimated 42% of SpaceX, which is now a publicly traded company.
The gas turbines power Colossus 2, the data center that runs SpaceXAI’s Grok chatbot, located near Memphis, Tennessee, one of the largest majority-Black cities in the nation. Most of the turbines are located just across the state line from the data center, in Southaven, Mississippi. The Reuters report cites communications between regulators and SpaceXAI representatives that reportedly prove the turbines have been operating without federal clean air permits even though their potential emissions exceed the threshold for a permit requirement.
Gas turbines are internal combustion engines that rely on natural gas to spin the turbine and generate energy. They have been particularly popular as the driving engine of Silicon Valley’s unprecedented data center buildout effort. The turbines emit smog-forming pollution, fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde, which can be tied to increases in asthma and even certain cancers.
The Memphis region, where the turbines are located, already has some of the most troubling asthma rates in the nation. Meanwhile, according to the NAACP, SpaceXAI’s power plant is the top emitter of smog-forming nitrogen oxide in the country, with the reported ability to emit more than 5,300 tons each year.
The company currently operates 59 natural gas turbines in the area, according to the Reuters report, more than double the 27 turbines previously reported. That number is looking likely to continue growing, considering that the parent company SpaceX shared its plans to buy roughly $2 billion more mobile gas turbines and related equipment to power its data centers, according to the company’s IPO filing unveiled in May.
The situation had been brought under scrutiny by civil rights organizations before the Reuters report, particularly by the NAACP, which filed a lawsuit against both SpaceXAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech back in April. In that lawsuit, the NAACP claimed that SpaceXAI was unlawfully operating 27 gas turbines near Memphis without an air permit, thereby polluting homes, schools, and churches in historically Black communities in the surrounding area.
The civil rights organization is asking the court to declare SpaceXAI’s action in violation of the Clean Air Act, force it to cease operations at the unpermitted turbines, and impose financial penalties. SpaceXAI argues that the turbines don’t require permits. Last month, the Department of Justice and the state of Mississippi both moved to intervene in the NAACP’s lawsuit, claiming that SpaceXAI’s business is a matter of national security.
The AI industry is undertaking an unprecedented level of infrastructure buildout, with the impact disproportionately landing on rural and minority communities.
In a study conducted last year, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative also found that those living within one mile of an EPA-regulated data center were breathing above average air pollution and also tended to be communities of color compared to the national median.
It’s not just Black communities like in Memphis that are plagued with these issues. The list also includes tribal lands where permit delays are less of a problem and new projects can be sped through to approval.
The health impact these gargantuan facilities have on neighboring communities has been the focus of scrutiny over the past few months as local backlash builds up, in some instances leading to tangible regulatory change. On Tuesday, New York became the first state to enact a moratorium banning the construction of new large data centers until their environmental impacts are thoroughly reviewed, which is expected to take around a year.
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