NAACP and Advocacy Groups Appeal Air Permit for xAI’s Personal Power Plant in North Mississippi

For immediate release

April 9, 2026

Contacts

SELC: Eric Hilt, 615-622-1199 or [email protected] NAACP: Chyna Fields, [email protected] Young, Gifted & Green: LaTricea Adams, [email protected] Safe and South Coalition: [email protected]

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. - On Thursday, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the NAACP, Young Gifted & Green, and the Safe and Sound Coalition, filed an appeal challenging the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's decision to issue an air permit to xAI's affiliate company, MZX Tech. The flawed permit violates the law and threatens the health of families who live in North Mississippi and South Memphis.

The permit allows xAI to operate 41 polluting methane gas turbines - essentially a personal power plant - at a site in Southaven, Mississippi. The power plant would provide electricity to the tech company's massive Colossus 2 data center, which is located on the other side of the state line in Memphis. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) approved the permit for the power plant last month despite overwhelming opposition from people living near the site.

"MDEQ's rushed approval of this flawed air permit raises serious concerns about transparency, regulatory accountability, and whether the public is truly being heard in decisions that directly affect our health and environment. Those with the authority to protect us had every opportunity to slow this process down, fully evaluate the risks, and ensure meaningful public involvement. Instead, they chose to push it forward," Shannon Samsa, a member of the Safe and Sound Coalition, said. "As a group made up of people who live here, raise our families here, and breathe this air every day, we believe our communities deserve better. This is our home, and we are standing up for it."

xAI's power plant would release staggering amounts of air pollution and harmful chemicals like formaldehyde. The company's 41 turbines would make it one of the largest sources of smog-forming pollution in the area, which is already failing to meet federal standards for smog. Additionally, a recent study found that fine particulate matter, also known as PM2.5, from xAI's power plant would increase health risks for families throughout the area - even in places as far away as Germantown, North Memphis, and Hernando. These pollutants increase the risk of asthma, heart attacks, respiratory disease, strokes, and even certain types of cancers.

"Data centers cannot be built on the backs of at-risk communities. Colossus 2 unnecessarily endangers the health of our neighbors and doesn't represent progress, as MDEQ claims - it's a violation of the public trust," said Abre' Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental and Climate Justice. "The NAACP has consistently challenged MDEQ's lack of transparency and stands with residents within the region. We continue to call for the prioritization of people over billionaires and unvetted corporate expansion."

"State lines are man-made constructs, but air is not. The Mississippi permit granted to xAI does not confine its consequences to Mississippi. Memphis shares the same skies, bears the same burden, and was never given a seat at the table," said LaTricea Adams, CEO and President of Young, Gifted & Green. "This appeal demands what the law and basic justice require at the very least that no community be sacrificed by a permitting process that ignores its neighbors."

MDEQ's permit largely relies on xAI's own modeling of air pollution impacts from the power plant. However, the company's analysis was deeply flawed in ways that minimized or outright ignored pollution impacts from the facility and other nearby emitters. Even with this faulty modeling, xAI did not adequately prove its power plant won't negatively impact air quality before MDEQ issued the company an air permit.

"Instead of prioritizing the health of the communities it serves and listening to the overwhelming opposition from families forced to live near xAI's personal power plant, MDEQ rubberstamped a flawed air permit that creates added health risks for people living in North Mississippi and Memphis," SELC Senior Attorney Patrick Anderson said. "This permit is unable to clear the most basic hurdle by failing to show that pollution from xAI's 41 turbines won't hurt air quality. This appeal aims to fix these glaring errors while holding the agency accountable."

The permit is also missing a key provision that would better protect air quality and public health in nearby communities. MDEQ failed to require xAI to obtain offsets, which are emissions reductions from other nearby polluters that can help counteract the facility's pollution. Because the Memphis Metropolitan Area - which includes Southaven and North Mississippi - is currently failing to meet federal standards for smog, MDEQ was required by its own rules to include offsets in the permit. The department's failure to include this important provision will hurt air quality.

The MDEQ Permit Board's decision to approve xAI's permit came despite calls to move the hearing, which was held on Election Day, at a location nearly three hours away from impacted communities, and just days after Board members had received a 1600-page document detailing the public's opposition to the permit. Internal emails from MDEQ and EPA revealed that the agency was in a "rush" to approve the air permit. MDEQ officials later admitted that the permit timeline was based off of xAI's schedule, not concerns raised by community members.

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The NAACP advocates, agitates, and litigates for the civil rights due to Black America. Our legacy is built on the foundation of grassroots activism by the biggest civil rights pioneers of the 20th century and is sustained by 21st century activists. From classrooms and courtrooms to city halls and Congress, our network of members across the country works to secure the social and political power that will end race-based discrimination. That work is rooted in racial equity, civic engagement, and supportive policies and institutions for all marginalized people. We are committed to a world without racism where Black people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities.

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