Locals Don't Want xAI's Gas Turbines, but Here They Come

Elon Musk's AI venture just got the green light to burn a lot more gas in Mississippi. State regulators on Tuesday approved xAI's request to operate 41 methane turbines at its "Colossus 2" data center in Southaven, almost twice what it had already been running, some without permits, to power its AI "supercomputers" behind the Grok chatbot, reports the Guardian. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's decision follows loud pushback from residents, environmental groups, and the NAACP, which is suing over pollution from the site.

"Children are being harmed and having to seek ... medical care, children who had a clean bill of health before this project started to operate," KeShaun Pearson, head of the Memphis Community Against Pollution group, said before Tuesday's vote, per the Commercial Appeal. "That must be considered." Critics say the expanded turbine cluster could rank among the state's largest fossil-fuel plants, worsening air quality in a region that already gets a failing grade from the American Lung Association, per the Guardian.

Opponents also accuse regulators of rushing approval and sidelining community input. "The people of Southaven are not collateral damage," one local said at a hearing last month on the matter, per the Mississippi Free Press. "We are not expendable." Neither the MDEQ nor xAI has publicly responded, per the Guardian.