Q&A: Musk's xAI faces backlash in Memphis over gas turbines

• Musk's AI company raises environmental concerns
• Gas turbines used by xAI cause pollution, groups say
• Campaigners demand transparency in permitting process

Tech billionaire Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI's data centre in Memphis has been met with resistance by some residents worried about a lack of transparency and potential environmental harm.

Environmental groups in the area found that the data centre, used to power the Grok chatbot, runs with 35 gas turbines, which exceeds the 15 turbines for which the company submitted permits to provide 300 megawatts of electricity to the data centre.

From the United States to South Africa, communities are campaigning against the environmental impact from Big Tech, from the use of water to emissions of toxic pollutants, according to a report by the British consultancy Computer Says Maybe.

xAI did not reply to a request for comment. The Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, which has served as an intermediary between the community and xAI, has stated that the company will be removing an undisclosed number of gas turbines this fall.

Amanda Garcia, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, one of the groups demanding that xAI turn off its gas turbines in Memphis, spoke to Context about local community concerns.

How did Musk's xAI company come to South Memphis?

The xAI data centre was announced last June as a done deal, and the community was totally caught off guard. Even many local leaders did not know that the project was coming to town, including the city council and the board of the local utility.

The people who are most directly affected had no seat at the table, had no ability to make sure that public health and public resources, like air and water, would be protected.

Unfortunately, there continues to be a real lack of transparency about the total amount of power and water the company is going to need and how that is going to affect the community, both in the short and long term.

Why are people worried about the use of gas turbines to power the data centre?

The xAI turbines emit large amounts of nitrogen oxides, which are an ozone precursor pollutant. According to our calculations, all 35 turbines would make xAI the largest industrial source of nitrogen oxides in Shelby County.

You do not want largely uncontrolled gas turbines operating 24 hours a day emitting large amounts of nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde and other pollutants.

But it is a particular concern in South Memphis because the Shelby County area has not been meeting minimum federal air-quality standards for ozone pollution for the past few years.

There is a real concern that xAI is going to continue to operate a lot more turbines than they have permits for, or that they could try to keep installing new ones as they shut old ones down.

What are local community's demands?

First, xAI needs to get a permit that covers all of the turbines that are operating on the site. Second, the Health Department needs to require them to shut down the turbines until they get the appropriate permit.

At a larger level, though, there is definitely a conversation in Memphis about these data centres coming without any sort of deliberation by our local elected leaders.

We have raised serious concerns about the process that was followed at the local utility because the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Board was not involved in that decision making.

I am concerned there were failures to follow existing law and processes that are set up to protect the public, whether it's from air pollution impacts or rate payer impacts at the utility level.

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

(Reporting by Diana Baptista. Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley.)