Elon Musk's Gas-Powered xAI Data Centers Are Running Into A Big Problem With Locals

Elon Musk, the momentary trillionaire, has been under fire over his company, xAI, and its use of gas turbines to power data centers. As we've written previously, despite Musk gaining notoriety for pushing for electric vehicles that could reduce harm to the environment, his businesses tell a completely different story. In Memphis, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has been pushing to sue over gas turbines being erected regardless of the health and environmental concerns of the local residents.

In Boxtown, Memphis, the NAACP has accused Musk's xAI of disregarding safeguards due to it being an area with a large Black community. It has also alleged that the gas turbines were put up illegally, without proper planning permission. The main reason for Musk's xAI having to rely on pollutants is that the local energy grid cannot support Colossus and its extreme number of graphics processing units (GPUs) that help power Anthropic's Claude and xAI's own large language model, Grok. The NAACP has since taken xAI to court over turbines at its nearby Mississippi facility.

The NAACP has also claimed that xAI broke laws set out by the Clean Air Act. During 2025, xAI had 35 different turbines operating, removed some, and then replaced them with three larger turbines. Heat, smell, and sound have all increased in the area, with some claiming it smells like sewage or gas depending on the day. Meanwhile, it gets worse elsewhere in the U.S., as Musk's other massive data center, Colossus 2, has also been caught with its monolith fingers in the pollution pie.

Right on the Tennessee-Mississippi state line — still in the greater Memphis metropolitan area — lies Whitehaven, Tennessee. Residents in the town, which is populated by 92% Black people, are trying to fend off Musk's massive power plants. This is because Colossus 2, another data center operating in Memphis, is having the same problems that Colossus 1 and many other data centers are having: Existing power grids cannot support the level of power required for operations. So, it installed 59 natural gas generators, mostly across the border in Mississippi. In total, 43% of the U.S. is powered by these, but adding more in such a centralized location has had an adverse effect on the surrounding citizens. Of note, according to reporting from Reuters, 59 is about double the number of gas generators xAI had publicly acknowledged.

This said, Mississippi regulators aren't helping the people in the nearby area. Officials gave xAI permission to build 41 permanent gas generators, and it's not looking like they will intervene. Further lawsuits from the Southern Environmental Law Center have also attempted to prevent further action by xAI in this regard.

AI data centers have been under scrutiny over energy and water usage for quite some time. Even Nvidia's "fixes" still result in tons of resources drained just to generate enough electricity to support them. Over the 2026 midterms, referendums and motions were presented to voters over data centers. It appears, as with the overturning of the U.S. government through a blue wave, that most areas voting on whether to allow data centers have rejected them. No wonder Musk is looking to space.