Southaven residents and advocate groups appeal state’s decision to grant xAI permit
By Alex Rozier | Originally published by Mississippi Today
A cohort of residents from Southaven, as well as two nonprofit advocacy groups, are petitioning the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to hold a hearing with hopes of reversing the state’s approval of an air permit for data center company xAI.
The Southern Environmental Law Center sent MDEQ the appeal Thursday on behalf of the Safe and Sound Coalition — a group of Southaven residents pushing back against xAI’s expansion in the city — the NAACP and Young, Gifted & Green.
The letter to the state comes about a month after the Mississippi permit board approved an air permit for 41 new, permanent gas turbines at an xAI facility in Southaven. The turbines would be part of a network of generators powering xAI’s data center operation in the area, which includes two centers in Memphis as well as a recently announced facility set to open in Southaven.
After frustrating experiences with noise and unchecked emissions from xAI’s temporary turbines in the community, dozens of Southaven residents have spoken out against the company’s operation, both at a February town hall and at the March permit board hearing.
“(The permit board’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,” said Shannon Samsa with the Safe and Sound Coalition. “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.”
MDEQ, which presented the permit to the board for consideration, said its air modeling suggests the new turbines would keep the area in compliance with national air quality standards. The Southern Environmental Law Center, though, argues the generators would release “staggering amounts of air pollution and harmful chemicals like formaldehyde” in “an area failing to meet EPA’s ambient air quality standards.”
The Thursday letter to MDEQ seeks an evidentiary hearing to discuss “deficiencies” with the permit granted to xAI, a company owned by billionaire Elon Musk that uses its Memphis data centers to power the AI chatbot Grok.
“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,” law center attorney Patrick Anderson said. “This appeal aims to fix these glaring errors while holding the agency accountable.”
Read the full letter here.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
