A US regulator ruled Thursday that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power giant data centers in Tennessee.
XAI has been fighting for a year and a half over the truck-sized gas turbines that the company parked near its Colossus 1 and 2 facilities, arguing with local officials that the power-generating turbines were exempt from air quality permit requirements.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared Generators were not exempted on Thursday. In its decision, the agency revised policies surrounding gas turbines, saying that air permits are still required to operate the machines, even if they are used on a portable or temporary basis, as was the case.
When xAI first installed portable turbines at Colossus 1, it took advantage of a local county loophole that allowed operation of generators without a permit as long as the machines did not sit in one place for more than 364 days. At one point, 35 of these generators were powering Colossus 1. XAI ultimately received permits for 15 turbines at Colossus 1 and is now operating 12 permitted machines at the site.
Under the EPA’s new decision, these turbines will be permitted under federal law. It is unclear how or whether the government will punish non-compliant companies. An EPA spokesperson did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about enforcement.
The decision is a victory for community activists in Memphis, who have been battling XAI’s use of portable turbines for as long as the generators have been in use. They say the data center, located just miles from historically black neighborhoods, is adding additional pollution to already overburdened communities.
“Our communities, air, water and land are not playgrounds for billionaires chasing other money,” said Aubrey Conner, NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice.
Methane gas turbines pump harmful nitrogen oxides into the air, which cause cancer, asthma and other upper respiratory diseases.
“The agency estimates that the final action will result in a reduction in net annual (nitrogen oxide) emissions of up to 296 tonnes by 2032,” an EPA spokesperson told the Guardian.
For XAI, which makes the chatbot Grok, the turbines are essential to supply excess power to its giant supercomputers. At full capacity, xAI’s Colossus 1 data center uses 150 megawatts of power – enough energy Electricity to 100,000 homes for a year – and the company plans to expand.
musk install colossus 1 Record time to get the data center up and running, in just 122 days, during the summer of 2024. Colossus 2, which is even larger at 1m-square-foot, was under construction last year and is located on the border with Memphis in Southaven, Mississippi. A third xAI data center, also in Southaven, still going Last week. one in post on xMusk said that the name of this supercomputer is “MACROHARDRR” and it will require about 2 gigawatts of computing power.
Colossus 2 is also powered by dozens of gas turbines. according to mississippi todayThe data center has 59 generators; 18 of them are considered temporary and do not have air quality permits.
Amanda Garcia, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, who filed an intent to sue
“We expect local health leaders to take immediate action to ensure compliance with federal law and better protect neighborhoods from harmful air pollution,” Garcia said.
XAI did not return requests for comment.
