Environmental and community advocacy groups have filed an appeal to challenge xAI’s air permit.
Today, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed the appeal with the Memphis and Shelby County Air Pollution Control Board on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Young, Gifted, and Green.
The appeal also challenges xAI’s gas turbine operations.
Earlier this month, xAI was granted a permit by the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) to run 15 gas turbines at its data center in South Memphis.
“SCHD decisions around unpermitted turbines create a dangerous precedent that opens the door for xAI or other companies to disregard federal and local law and operate large polluting turbines without any permits or penalties,” SELC said in a statement.
SELC’s appeal claims SCHD’s decision violates the Clean Air Act and ignores “hundreds of comments opposing the draft permit.”
Prior to the approval of the air permit, SELC sent a letter to Dr. Michelle Taylor, director and health officer for SCHD, that said they obtained aerial images showing 35 gas turbines on site.
SCHD responded to the SELC’s concerns stating that the temporary ones were not pertinent to their application process for the 15 permanent turbines.
“While responding to those comments, SCHD wrongly claimed that the federal Clean Air Act didn’t apply to xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines, citing an exemption for ‘nonroad engines’ — typically defined as things like construction equipment, smaller backup generators or lawn mowers,” SELC said. “However, the Clean Air Act specifically says that turbines as large as the ones at the xAI site do not qualify for this exemption.”
The appeal specifically asks the Memphis and Shelby County Air Pollution Control Board to exclude large gas turbines from the nonroad exemption.
During the public comment response period, SCHD responded to SELC’s concerns in the name of environmental justice and impact on Southwest Memphis, with the following:
“No legal basis exists for denying or altering an otherwise lawful air construction permit on the basis of cumulative impacts on environmental justice concerns. Additionally, the permit application included an extensive evaluation of environmental justice.”
SELC has called these responses a “flawed narrative” and fears their decision would invite other companies to “operate large polluting turbines without any permits or penalties.”
President and CEO of Young, Gifted, and Green, LaTricea Adams condemned the agency for “not protecting” South Memphis — a community she said is “burdened with a history of environmental racism, legacy pollution, and redlining.”
“As a Black woman born and raised in Memphis, I know firsthand how industry harms Black communities while those in power cower away from justice,” Adams said.
The NAACP, who previously sent a letter to SCHD and Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW) urging them to stop xAI operations, said this appeal is a “second chance to prioritize” community health.
xAI’s methane turbines have been linked to smog-forming pollutants and formaldehyde, which have neen linked to asthma, respiratory illnesses, and heart problems.
“We will persist until the health department and every other agency follows the law, and we will ensure that the safety and well-being og Black people are not treated secondary to the profits of Elon Musk’s xAI,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said.