Elon Musk's xAI accused of pollution over Memphis supercomputer
Source: Guardian
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The first public hearing with the health department is scheduled for Friday, where county officials will hear from all sides of the debate. In the run-up to the hearing, secretive fliers claiming xAI has low emissions were sent to residents of historically Black neighborhoods; at the same time, environmental groups have been amassing data about how much pollution the AI company is likely generating.
The dispute came to a head earlier this month when the Southern Environmental Law Center revealed that xAI had quietly moved in at least 35 portable methane gas turbines without air permits to help power its supercomputer. The group says this many generators have the capacity to power an entire city and are enormous emitters of toxic and carcinogenic pollution. The law center made the discovery by taking satellite images of the xAI facility.
Days after the news broke, Memphis mayor Paul Young spoke in a public forum and said he had been in contact with xAI and that the company was not using all of the gas generators, according to WREG News. Young, who has long supported xAI’s operations in Memphis, noted that the company has a pending permit application with the Shelby county health department to run 15 generators.
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Now, the Southern Environmental Law Center has taken new photos of xAI that include thermal imaging. These photos show 33 turbines giving off significant amounts of heat, meaning they were all likely in use at the time the photo was taken.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/24/elon-musk-xai-memphis
The fliers have been sent to residents by an anonymous group called "Facts Over Fiction" - which says the generators are low-emission (lie) and already approved by the EPA and county health department (another lie).
I hope they nail Musk.