The Colossus knowledge heart operated by xAI outdoors of Memphis is dealing with a lawsuit for working a fleet of pure gasoline generators with out permits.
“Over the previous yr, xAI has put in and operated at the least 35 combustion generators and different sources of air air pollution on the Colossus website with out ever acquiring the required preconstruction or working air permits,” the Southern Environmental Legislation Middle (SELC) wrote in a letter to xAI.
The authorized group submitted the letter on behalf of the NAACP. It serves as a discover for intent to sue xAI for violations of the Clear Air Act. The regulation requires organizations to submit such a letter 60 days upfront of submitting a lawsuit.
The gasoline generators have the potential to emit greater than 2,000 tons of NOx per yr, a gaggle of chemical compounds that contribute to smog.
Memphis already “had among the worst air high quality within the area,” SELC notes. “In 2024, Memphis was deemed an bronchial asthma capital of the nation by the Bronchial asthma and Allergy Basis of America as a result of excessive charges of emergency room visits and deaths from bronchial asthma.”
SELC alleges that xAI did not acquire permits required by each the federal and native regulators earlier than putting in the mills. It additionally alleges that the corporate wasn’t working them with correct air air pollution controls. At one level, xAI had sufficient generators to generate 421 megawatts of electrical energy.
Final summer time, the Shelby County Well being Division, which oversees native air air pollution compliance, “informed reporters that xAI’s generators have been exempt from allowing, though SCHD nonetheless had not disclosed publicly what xAI was working on its website nor the authorized foundation for any such exemption,” SELC mentioned.
To find out what was occurring on the Colossus website, SELC paid an aerial photographer to capture images of the power in March. The pictures revealed that xAI had put in 35 generators across the perimeter of the info heart on the time. Thermal photos taken a few month later confirmed that at the least 33 of them have been operational, SELC mentioned.
After these photos have been taken, the Larger Memphis Chamber, a neighborhood financial improvement company, mentioned that xAI had eliminated among the generators.
“The non permanent pure gasoline generators that have been getting used to energy the Part I GPUs previous to grid connection at the moment are being demobilized and might be faraway from the location over the subsequent two months,” the Memphis Chamber said. “About half of the working generators will stay” till a second substation full’s the info facilities connection to the grid, the group added, and that after the substation was full, the generators would function backups.
However a flight on June 15 confirmed that at the least 26 generators remained, together with three new ones that had been put in because the April flight. The entire producing capability was round 407 megawatts, simply 14 megawatts shy of the earlier quantity.
“With only a few exceptions — none of which apply right here — new sources of standards and different air pollution in Tennessee should acquire preconstruction approval within the type of an air allow in addition to a allow to function and emit pollution,” SELC mentioned.