Justice Department says xAI’s unlicensed gas turbines are a matter of ‘national, economic and energy security’

Wired reports that the Justice Department sided with xAI on Monday in a lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop the company from using dozens of unlicensed natural gas turbines near its Memphis data center.

If the NAACP, which filed the lawsuit in April, wins, the Justice Department said the result would undermine “the national, economic, and energy security of the United States by seeking to cut off the power supply for artificial intelligence innovations that support the Department of the Army’s military operations.”

A memorandum filed by the Justice Department says Grok is one of four AI models that will support “mission-critical operations” such as the recent attack on Iran.

The NAACP began telegraphing its intent to sue xAI last June, calling for an end to the company’s practice of using “mobile” gas turbines in its Colossus and Colossus 2 data centers. Those efforts failed, and Elon Musk’s AI company later added more turbines, bringing the total to 57.

xAI claims it is exempt from Mississippi air pollution regulations for a year because the turbines remain on trailers. The Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the NAACP, said the company’s use still violates federal law, which states that turbines mounted on trailers are considered stationary and subject to regulations.

The NAACP said the region is already one of the most polluted in the country, and air quality has worsened since xAI’s data center came online.

Since last year, the number of data center turbines has more than doubled, and three major air pollutants have increased accordingly: PM2.5, formaldehyde, and nitrogen oxides (NOx). All three are thought to be associated with asthma and cardiovascular disease. Exposure to formaldehyde increases the risk of cancer, and PM2.5 is thought to be involved in a variety of diseases, from stroke to Alzheimer’s disease.

The company, now part of SpaceX, is likely to buy more generators in the coming months and years. In SpaceX’s IPO filing, the company said it would purchase an additional $2.8 billion worth of gas turbines to power its AI data centers over the next three years. Of this, at least $2 billion is earmarked for “mobile gas turbines.”