MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A group of environmental advocates said Wednesday they have appealed a decision by the county’s health department to issue a permit for Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer to operate gas turbines at the southwest Memphis facility.
The Shelby County Health Department approved a permit earlier this month for xAI to operate 15 gas turbines as secondary emergency power backups. The company had been operating turbines on a temporary basis for several months by the time the permit was issued.
xAI said in a statement that its “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.”
But State Rep. Justin J. Pearson said the permit sets a dangerous precedent and needs to be revoked.
“Granting a permit 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,” Pearson wrote in a statement Wednesday.
Pearson said the Southern Environmental Law Center, the NAACP Memphis chapter, and Young, Gifted & Green had filed an appeal of the health department’s decision.
That coalition had filed suit against the project, claiming emissions from the turbines were unhealthy for nearby communities and in violation of the Clean Air Act.
“Today’s appeal announcement is both extraordinary and necessary. It signals a critical shift that Memphis will no longer be treated as expendable and South Memphis is not a sacrifice zone for corporate polluters or the Department tasked with protecting our health,” Pearson wrote. “For too long, the SCHD has failed to protect the health and well-being of this community. That failure must stop now.”
A spokesperson with xAI released a statement saying they are disheartened to see SELC appealing the construction permit; however, they say they are not surprised.
“SELC’s baseless, politically driven appeal is riddled with factual inaccuracies, legal fiction, and most importantly, undermines the diligent and important work done by the County leaders in properly issuing the Construction Permit. At xAI, we believe facts matter. The truth is that the 15 permanent turbines subject to the properly issued Construction Permit would make the Electrolux facility the lowest-emitting facility of its type in the United States. Despite this, SELC seeks to appeal the properly issued Construction Permit that enables us to achieve this remarkable milestone. Here is another important fact: all of the temporary turbines at Electrolux have already been decommissioned, and the only turbines operating are the ones allowed under the properly issued construction permit,” the statement read.
The company states that it has and will continue to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.
WREG reached out to the Shelby County Health Department, which said in a response that the decision on the permit was made by the Air Pollution Control Board, and that board operates independently from the health department.
“The Air Pollution Control Board is an independent body responsible for reviewing and deciding on variance applications, as well as hearing appeals of decisions, rulings, or determinations made by the Health Officer or their designee under the Shelby County Air Code. The Shelby County Health Department does not set the hearing dates or influence the Board’s decisions. For a full description of the Board’s rules and procedures, please refer to the Air Pollution Control Code, Section 3-35(f).”
Shelby County Health Department
xAI began operations at its Memphis-based Colossus facility, which it says is the world’s largest supercomputer, last summer and is building a Colossus 2 at a site in Whitehaven.
The artificial intelligence company also has a presence across the state line in Southaven, Mississippi, though a company executive on Tuesday declined to say what the company has planned for that site.
