MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Independent air-quality tests found “no dangerous levels of air pollutants” in the Boxtown, Whitehaven or Downtown areas, Memphis city officials said Tuesday.

The testing was commissioned by the city in direct response to community concerns raised by residents, particularly in the Boxtown community, near the site of xAI’s supercomputer.

An independent laboratory tested for pollutants known to impact public health, including benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter, the city said.

“At every site and for every pollutant tested, levels were either too low to detect or well below established safety thresholds,” the city said in a statement.

Testing was done by EnSafe inc./SGS Gals onJune 13 and 16, for 12 hours at each locations.

xAI said in a statement sent to WREG that the company “welcomes the independent third-party data showing no dangerous pollutant levels at test sites near our Memphis data center. We have built a world-class data center in Memphis and we couldn’t have done it without the support of the local community and its leaders.”

But the Southern Environmental Law Center said the city’s tests were flawed, because they failed to measure ozone pollution, otherwise known as smog, a major problem in the Memphis area.

“Smog can make it harder for people to breathe and is tied to increased rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses. It’s unclear why the city would not test for this harmful pollutant,” SELC senior attorney Patrick Anderson said in a statement sent to WREG.

“Nearly all of the air monitors in the Memphis metro have recorded ozone concentrations that violate the federal standard. These monitors also show that the problem is getting worse—not better,” he said.

Residents in Boxtown and environmental advocates including Rep. Justin J. Pearson maintain that gas turbines used to power the xAI supercomputer could cause damaging health effects to nearby residents.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the local NAACP, announced one week ago that they intend to file a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.

“For the last year, these turbines have been pumping hazardous and smog-forming pollution into the air in South Memphis. A community already overburdened with industrial pollution. These pollutants can cause increased rates of asthma, heart disease, respiratory disease, and cancer,” said Anderson.

More information on the tests can be found here.