• Early warnings and expansion of turbines
• NAACP lawsuit over air quality
• DOJ and Trump administration intervention
• Environmental advocates’ response

DOJ Intervenes in Lawsuit Over xAI’s Unpermitted Gas Turbines The Biden administration’s Justice Department has stepped into a high‑stakes environmental lawsuit, arguing that unpermitted gas turbines powering Elon Musk’s xAI data centers should keep running because they are critical to US military operations. The case pits local pollution and civil-rights concerns against claims of national and economic security.

§Early warnings and expansion of turbines

The NAACP began signaling plans to sue xAI in mid‑2025, seeking to end the company’s use of “mobile” gas turbines at its Colossus and Colossus 2 data centers near Memphis. Those efforts failed, and xAI—now a division of SpaceX—expanded instead, increasing the number of trailer‑mounted natural gas turbines to 57 by mid‑2026. The NAACP says the Colossus Gas Plant powers the Colossus 2 data center, which in turn runs the Grok chatbot.

§NAACP lawsuit over air quality

In April 2026, the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed a Clean Air Act lawsuit, alleging xAI and subsidiary MZX Tech were operating dozens of gas turbines without required air permits in Southaven, Mississippi. They argue that the turbines have driven up key pollutants—PM2.5, formaldehyde, and nitrogen oxides—in an area “already one of the most polluted in the country,” with links to asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, and Alzheimer’s.

§DOJ and Trump administration intervention

On June 16, 2026, the Department of Justice moved to intervene, siding with xAI and urging a federal judge to dismiss the case. The DOJ contends that shutting down the turbines would undermine “American national, economic, and energy security” because they power “artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War’s military operations.” The filing stresses that Grok “provides critical support for the Department of War’s military operations,” including aiding targeted strikes in Iran during Operation Epic Fury, where the Grok Gov Model helped US forces deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 targets in 96 hours.

The Trump administration’s position, articulated through DOJ lawyers, is that the lawsuit “threaten[s] artificial-intelligence innovation, plus the energy needed to power it,” and notes that Mississippi regulators previously determined the turbines did not require permits. Officials describe xAI’s gas‑powered data center as necessary for national security.

§Environmental advocates’ response

SELC counters that the US is effectively arguing “that xAI should be allowed to break the law solely because the Trump administration says so,” criticizing the government for never disputing that xAI lacks proper permits. With SpaceX planning billions more in turbine purchases for AI data centers, advocates warn the case could set a precedent for how far national‑security claims can stretch environmental law.

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