The Mississippi Environmental Quality Permit Board granted a permit for MZX Tech LLC, an affiliate of xAI.
MZX Tech plans to operate 41 gas turbines at the power plant located at 275 Stanton Road in Southaven. Officials made the decision during a meeting of the board in Jackson, Mississippi.
Abre’ Conner, director of environmental and climate justice at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said they are “outraged” by the decision, and that it silenced those in the affected communities.
“The rushed, superficial responses dropped just this weekend completely ignore our community’s concerns and twist the law to fit their agenda,” Conner said. “It’s shocking that a state agency and board would refuse to address an unnecessary civic crisis, prioritizing convenience over justice.”
The board’s decision to hold the meeting on Election Day, and five days after the hearing was announced, has been condemned by local and national groups.
The Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and the national NAACP sent an open letter to MDEQ to immediately reschedule the public hearing for the following week, and requested a response by Monday.
The organization criticized MDEQ’s decision to issue their responses to public comments on Saturday, March 7, as well as for holding the hearing “nearly three driving hours from the site of the facility.”
“While we agree that the airshed for MZX Tech and xAI’s pollution is broad for this facility, having an election day hearing in Hinds County while the permit is for a facility in DeSoto County was an intentional choice or at least a grave oversight by MDEQ,” the letter said. “It’s also one we hope is corrected immediately.”
NAACP officials previously sent a letter to MDEQ asking them to deny MZX Tech’s permit, as it posed a “civil rights issue” as opposed to a permitting one.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, which has long been critical of the expansion of xAI’s operations and has pointed out numerous flaws in MDEQ’s draft permit called the consideration period an “absurdly short timeline.”
“We’re extremely disappointed in MDEQ’s decision to greenlight this inadequate permit for xAI’s power plant, which fails to address the significant concerns about the impact these added turbines will have on communities in North Mississippi as well as South Memphis,” Patrick Anderson, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said. “Mississippi state regulators appear to be more interested in fast-tracking xAI’s personal power plant than conducting a thorough review of its impacts and having meaningful engagement with the families that will be forced to live with this dirty facility — and its pollution — in their communities.”
SELC said MDEQ has failed to do any “meaningful analysis or public engagement.” The law center released a study showing that the proposed gas turbines could “worsen regional air pollution and cause tens of millions of dollars in health damages.
DeSoto county residents have been vocal about their opposition to xAI, and have also made noise-pollution complaints about the turbines. Residents have reported sleep disruptions, with many experiencing migraines and other health issues.