NAACP Sues xAI Over 27 Unpermitted Gas Turbines Powering Colossus Data Center in Mississippi

The national NAACP and its Mississippi state conference filed a Clean Air Act suit alleging xAI built a de facto power plant -- 27 gas turbines with no air permits -- to run its Colossus 2 AI data center in a predominantly Black community outside Memphis.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, names xAI Corp. and its subsidiary MZX Tech LLC as defendants. Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center represent the plaintiffs.

The suit alleges that between August and December 2025, the defendants installed 27 gas-fired combustion turbines at a site on Stanton Road South in Southaven, Mississippi, with a combined generating capacity of at least 495 megawatts -- enough to power roughly 400,000 average American homes. According to the complaint, the turbines were built to feed xAI's Colossus 2 data center.

Plaintiffs allege the defendants did not obtain a construction permit, an operating permit, or a Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit before building and running the facility. The complaint says the defendants also failed to undergo the required Best Available Control Technology analysis and did not comply with hazardous-air-pollutant standards for stationary combustion turbines. The suit specifically challenges any claim that the turbines qualify as "mobile" sources or were exempt because they would operate on-site for less than 12 months.

The facility has the potential to emit roughly 1,700 tons of nitrogen oxides per year, the complaint alleges, which would likely make it the largest industrial NOx source in the greater Memphis area. DeSoto County and neighboring Shelby County have both received "F" ozone grades from the American Lung Association, and the complaint says the region already faces elevated asthma burdens and a rising number of high-ozone days.

The environmental-justice dimensions are central to the filing. The complaint alleges that Southaven is approximately 39 percent Black and that neighboring Horn Lake is more than 50 percent Black. Nine schools and at least ten churches sit within three miles of the turbine site, according to the suit. Named NAACP members living less than a mile from the facility submitted declarations in support of the complaint.

The plaintiffs seek a declaration that the defendants violated the Clean Air Act, an injunction shutting down the unpermitted turbines, an order requiring installation of best available control technology, and civil penalties of up to $124,426 per day of violation.

The complaint pleads three claims: construction and operation of a stationary source without a permit, construction and operation without a PSD permit or BACT determination, and construction and operation of a major source of hazardous air pollutants without complying with Section 112 and NESHAP requirements.

The case is National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. X.AI Corp., No. 3:26-cv-00074-MPM-JMV (N.D. Miss.).