NAACP Launches Clean Air Lawsuit Over xAI ‘Colossus’ Data Center

The NAACP is suing Elon Musk’s xAI Corp. for installing a gas plant to power its Colossus 2 data center near Memphis without obtaining the required air permits, potentially putting the nearby, predominately Black community at risk.

The organization—with Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center acting as legal counsel—filed its complaint Tuesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Its lawsuit alleges violations of the federal Clean Air Act and seeks penalties up to $124,400 per day of violation.

The NAACP said in its lawsuit that the 27 gas turbines have the potential to emit a significant amount of smog-forming nitrogen oxides above what is allowed by federal law, as well as fine particulate matter and carcinogenic formaldehyde.

The data center supports the AI chatbot Grok and operates in Memphis, Tenn., but the gas turbines sit in Southaven, Miss., near communities of color, the complaint says.

The lawsuit claims xAI and its subsidiaries began installing and operating combustion turbines on Aug. 1, 2025, at the Southaven site. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality said the turbines were exempt from permitting requirements because they were “mobile” and would remain at the location for less than a year. But MDEQ doesn’t have the authority to exempt sources of air pollution that are subject to the Clean Air Act’s permitting requirements, the lawsuit says.

“Absent an appropriate order from this Court, xAI and MZX Tech will continue to emit illegal air pollution as described in this Complaint, which will continue to harm members of the NAACP and NAACP MS,” the complaint says.

Earthjustice has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Law is operated by entities controlled by Michael Bloomberg.

The case is NAACP v. xAI Corp., N.D. Miss., No. 3:26-cv-00074, complaint filed 4/14/26.