The Justice Department lodged a brief on Monday urging a federal judge to dismiss the NAACP’s lawsuit against xAI, the artificial‑intelligence arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The civil‑rights organization alleges the company is running natural‑gas turbines without the required permits at its Colossus 2 data center in Southaven, Mississippi, and that the emissions exacerbate asthma and heart‑disease risks in a community already plagued by poor air quality.
In its motion, the DOJ claimed the turbines are "vital to American national, economic, and energy security." The agency’s memorandum cites four AI models, including xAI’s Grok, that operate on Secret and Top‑Secret networks and support mission‑critical military functions. A separate declaration from Cameron Stanley, the Department of Defense’s chief digital and artificial‑intelligence officer, says the Grok Gov model helped power recent strikes against Iran. "Forcing xAI to stop running the gas turbines powering Colossus 2 directly threatens ongoing national security interests," Stanley wrote.
The NAACP, which filed the suit in April, argues that xAI’s turbines are unpermitted under the Clean Air Act. The organization seeks a preliminary injunction to halt operation of the turbines, warning that the unregulated emissions increase nitrogen oxides, fine particulates and formaldehyde—pollutants linked to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. The lawsuit identifies 27 turbines initially operating without permits.
Emails obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center, a partner in the case, show the turbine count swelled to 57 by mid‑May, more than doubling the original number. The SELC calculates that the expansion has pushed nitrogen‑oxide emissions up 111 percent, PM2.5 emissions up 83 percent, and formaldehyde emissions up 88 percent since April.
State regulators in Tennessee and Mississippi have previously told xAI it could run the turbines for a year without clean‑air permits, a stance the NAACP says conflicts with federal EPA rules. The agency has not yet responded to requests for comment on the DOJ filing.
The dispute pits environmental and public‑health concerns against a national‑security narrative that the government has rarely invoked in a civil‑rights case. If the court accepts the DOJ’s argument, the NAACP’s effort to shut down the turbines could be halted, leaving the community to contend with higher pollution levels while the AI models continue to support classified defense operations.
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