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NAACP, others appeal xAI turbine permits for Memphis data center • Tennessee Lookout [1]
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Date: 2025-07
The NAACP and another group are challenging the Shelby County Health Department’s decision to grant xAI an air permit for 15 gas turbines at its South Memphis data center, according to an appeal filed Wednesday.
The groups also contest the department’s determination that temporary gas turbines — which generate electricity and have potential to emit pollutants — are “nonroad engines” exempt from permitting requirements.
That determination, the appeal says, violates the Clean Air Act and would allow entities to “install and operate any number of new polluting turbines at any time without any written approval from the Health Department, without any public notice or public participation, and without pollution controls.”
The Southern Environmental Law Center brought the appeal to the Memphis and Shelby County Air Pollution Control Board on behalf of the NAACP’s Memphis chapter and Young, Gifted & Green.
The Shelby County Health Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Elon Musk founded xAI, an artificial intelligence company, in 2023. The company announced it would build the supercomputer in Memphis at the former Electrolux building about a year later. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.
The health department approved a permit for 15 turbines at xAI’s Paul R. Lowry Road campus on July 2 after months of community debate over the potential impact to South Memphis neighborhoods, which have battled various forms of industrial pollution for years.
xAI welcomed the department’s July 2 decision with a statement pledging that “onsite power generation will be equipped with state-of-the-art emissions control technology, making this facility the lowest emitting of its kind in the country.”
State Rep. Justin Pearson, a Memphis Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday that the health department’s permit approval “to a company that ran dozens of large gas turbines for more than a year without authorization sends a troubling message that violating environmental laws in Shelby County is acceptable.”
What’s in the appeal
The appeal says the health department’s permit treats the site as a new facility with no existing sources of emissions — ignoring the fact that the site has had multiple un-permitted turbines on the property for more than a year. The groups allege that the campus had up to 35 gas turbines on site capable of generating more than 420 megawatts of electricity before it sought permits. The 35 turbines can emit between 1,000 to 2,100 tons of nitrogen oxides — reactive gases that can irritate human airways in high concentrations — according to the appeal.
Instead, the groups argue that xAI’s campus is an “existing major source” of emissions because the turbines on the property have the potential to emit 900 tons of nitrogen oxides, well above the Clean Air Act’s 250-ton threshold. Permits for existing major sources of pollution have more strict provisions, including emissions limits and air quality impact assessments.
xAI’s voluntary agreement to comply with Best Available Control Technology and monitoring are far less stringent than what other turbine sites would require, according to the appeal.
“As a Black woman born and raised in Memphis, I know firsthand how industry harms Black communities while those in power cower away from justice,” Young, Gifted & Green CEO and President LaTricea Adams said in a statement. “The Shelby County Health Department needs to do their job to protect the health of ALL Memphians, especially those in frontline communities like 38109, that are burdened with a history of environmental racism, legacy pollution, and redlining.”
Memphis city officials reported in June that independent tests found “no dangerous levels of air pollutants” in the Boxtown, Whitehaven or Downtown Memphis areas near the supercomputer campus. The SELC said the tests failed to measure ozone pollution. Air monitors in the Memphis metropolitan area show that ozone emissions averages have exceeded federal limits for the last two years.
The SELC filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency on June 5, asking the agency to formally recognize the area’s failure to meet federal standards and trigger stricter requirements for air permits.
The department has stated that permits are not required for temporary turbines that operate for less than a year, but the appeal contends that Shelby County’s federally approved Local Implementation Plan doesn’t include any exemptions for “temporary” large portable turbines.
The appeal acts as a “stay of decision” pending the board’s final decision, effectively putting the permits on pause, according to Shelby County Air Code. The board must set an appeal hearing date within 60 days.
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