Environmental and health advocates accuse Elon Musk's AI startup xAI of exacerbating the environmental problem in Memphis, Tennessee, through the use of natural gas turbines in its latest data center and not using a permit to accomplish that.
The company announced it might open the info center in June in a former Electrolux factory, shortly after announcing it had raised $6 billion at a $24 billion valuation. In a Post on X Last month, Musk boasted that xAI had begun training its AI models at the ability, using 100,000 Nvidia's H100 processors.
The Southern Environmental Law Center sent a letter this week on behalf of several local groups to the health department in Shelby County, where Memphis is situated, and to a regional office of the Environmental Protection Agency, urging regulators to analyze xAI for the unauthorized use of the turbines and the pollution they cause.
The letter states that xAI has “installed at least 18 gas turbines over the past few months (and may have more in the pipeline).”
The company has previously used the turbines to power the ability, but in the long run plans to make use of power from local utilities Memphis Light, Gas and Water and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
MLGW told CNBC that it began supplying 50 megawatts of power to xAI in early August. However, the xAI facility needs one other 100 megawatts. The utility has installed more circuit breakers and begun upgrading transmission lines in the realm to also prepare for xAI's additional power use.
Musk, who can also be CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social media company X, founded xAI in 2023 to develop large language models and AI products to compete with those of Google, Microsoft and OpenAI. The company's first product is a chatbot called Grok, which is touted as a politically incorrect alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT. AI models generally require enormous amounts of power for training and processing data.
“This facility requires an enormous amount of electricity,” supporters wrote within the letter.
Some of the 18 turbines are visible from the road surrounding the property and, in accordance with the proponents' letter, emit air pollutants called nitrogen oxides (NOx), which contribute to a long-standing smog problem in the realm. Shelby County received a American Lung Association for its smog.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websiteEven small amounts of nitrogen oxides within the air can irritate the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, causing coughing, shortness of breath, fatigue and nausea. Inhaling high levels of nitrogen oxides could cause “rapid burning, spasms and swelling of tissues in the throat and upper respiratory tract” in addition to other serious health problems, the agency said.
Companies in Tennessee typically must obtain a permit to operate the kinds of turbines utilized by xAI. The permits set the allowable emission levels and determine efficiency requirements for the engines.
“Significant impacts on health and the environment”
A permit would also require air quality tests to be carried out to be certain that users don’t pollute the environment greater than planned, for instance on account of poor engine maintenance.
“The biggest concern remains that there is very little transparency and opportunity for public participation in the xAI project,” Amanda Garcia, a senior attorney with the Tennessee office of the Southern Environmental Law Center, told CNBC. The additional concern, she said, is that it “is already having significant health and environmental impacts on the surrounding communities.”
The groups wrote within the letter that the xAI turbines already installed could emit an estimated 130 tons of nitrogen oxides per 12 months, making them the ninth-largest source of pollution within the county. Their combined capability could power about 50,000 homes.
Companies led by Musk have previously built facilities or operated emissions-intensive equipment without first obtaining approval.
CNBC reported earlier this month that SpaceX operated a water flooding and cooling system at its launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas, and repeatedly discharged industrial wastewater there and not using a permit, a violation of the Clean Water Act.
Musk's tunneling company The Boring Co. was also fined by Texas environmental regulators for the same problem – discharging wastewater into the Colorado River in Bastrop, Texas, without obtaining permits or installing appropriate pollution controls.
Tesla was founded by a Californian Air pollution controller in 2021 for installing and modifying paint shop equipment that emitted hazardous air pollutants without the required permit and inspection under the Clean Air Act.
The Shelby County Health Department and the EPA's Memphis regional office didn’t reply to a request for comment. Nor did xAI.
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