A federal judge has denied xAI’s attempt to dismiss an NAACP lawsuit accusing the company of running gas turbines at its Colossus data center outside Memphis without the required air permits.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, arguing for the NAACP, says the site has hosted at least 35 combustion turbines and other pollution sources that never obtained preconstruction or operating permits. The suit alleges violations of the Clean Air Act.
Two defences, both rejected
xAI argued the turbines count as mobile sources and therefore escape permitting, and separately that the plaintiffs lacked standing. Judge Debra M. Brown wrote that the turbine claim fails against Mississippi’s state implementation plan, and that citizen suits under the statute do not hand private parties executive power.
Because those plaintiffs sue in their own name and seek penalties redressing their own harm, the judge reasoned, they are not exercising federal authority. A similar dismissal motion from the Justice Department failed earlier this month.
Abre Connor, who directs environmental and climate justice at the NAACP, called the ruling another victory in the effort to hold xAI accountable.
A wider fight behind one lawsuit
The case lands in a season of organized resistance to data centers. New York recently passed a moratorium on new builds, other states are weighing the same, and Amazon and Microsoft have promised to stop using non-disclosure agreements with local governments.
TechCrunch notes the backlash could become a factor in the midterm elections next week.
