NAACP Responds to EPA Confirmation that Large Methane Gas Turbines Require Permits

Press release from the Southern Environmental Law Center, Young, Gifted & Green, and NAACP

For immediate release: January 15, 2026

Contacts

SELC: Eric Hilt, 615-622-1199 or [email protected]

NAACP: Dominic Hawkins, [email protected]

Young, Gifted & Green: LaTricea Adams, [email protected]

WASHINGTON D.C. - This week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced that methane gas turbines, even temporary ones that will operate for less than a year, require construction permits and air permits.

The announcement came as the agency revised its New Source Performance Standard, which regulates air pollution from gas turbines. The revised rule confirms what local Memphis community groups have been saying for months: that temporary methane gas turbines like the ones xAI is using to power its South Memphis data centers are subject to NSPS and require air permits.

In fact, EPA emphasizes that methane gas turbines have never been exempt from the regulations, writing: "Historically, however, the EPA has not regulated combustion turbines, even those that may be portable, as nonroad engines, but rather as stationary sources." The statement is a clear rebuke of arguments from local leaders that turbines at the xAI site qualified for a so-called "nonroad engine loophole."

In response to this announcement, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of Young, Gifted & Green and the NAACP, sent a letter to the Memphis and Shelby County Air Pollution Control Board, alerting the board to the EPA revision and urging them to ensure the Shelby County Health Department changes its policies on unpermitted gas turbines to be in line with federal regulations.

Below are statements from the Southern Environmental Law Center, Young Gifted & Green, and NAACP in response to the announcement:

"EPA's gas turbine decision makes it clear that companies are not - and have never been - allowed to build and operate methane gas turbines without a permit and that there is no loophole that would allow corporations to set up unpermitted power plants. We expect local health leaders to take swift action to ensure they are following federal law and to better protect neighbors from harmful air pollution," SELC Senior Attorney Amanda Garcia said.

"Memphians have been yelling from the top of our polluted lungs that allowing methane turbines to operate for almost a year with no permit is not only inhumane, but illegal. The Shelby County Health Department should at least do the bare minimum,which is following the law. If it refuses, the Air Pollution Control Board needs to hold the Shelby County Health Department accountable," LaTricea Adams, CEO and President of Young, Gifted & Green, said. "As a daughter of South Memphis that lost my father way too soon living in a polluted community, I demand that the Air Pollution Control Board reconvene another public meeting immediately to best address this critical issue."

"Our communities, air, water, and land are not playgrounds for billionaires chasing another buck," said Abre' Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental and Climate Justice. "We've seen enough from Elon Musk and other elites who act as if they are above the law in certain cases, and here, they add to pollution that impacts our livelihoods. We will not let them in SouthMemphis or anywhere else. The NAACP has a long history of fighting environmental injustice, and in an era of booming data centers and skyrocketing greenhouse gas emissions, our work will only grow more urgent. This is our only home, and we have only one body. If you think our health is something we'll compromise, you're mistaken."

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