DOJ backs xAI in pollution lawsuit, citing national security and military AI operations

DOJ Lawyers Argue xAI Is 'Vital' for National Security in NAACP Lawsuit

In a bid to dismiss a lawsuit over xAI's polluting gas turbines, the Justice Department claimed the company is integral to military operations -- including the Iran War. The Department of Justice intervened in a lawsuit over xAI's gas turbines on Monday. In a filing, the agency sided with Elon Musk's company, saying attempts to stop xAI from running the natural gas turbines "threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations." The DOJ, along with xAI and the state of Mississippi, asked the court to dismiss the suit, filed by the NAACP in April. The NAACP alleges xAI isn't following the Clean Air Act and is endangering public health by running unpermitted natural gas turbines at the site of its second data center in Southaven, Mississippi, dubbed Colossus 2. In May, the NAACP filed a request for a preliminary injunction to stop xAI from running the turbines, alleging that their continued use without a permit "increases risks of asthma attacks and heart disease" in communities with an already heavy pollution burden. xAI and DOJ didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the DOJ memorandum, there are only four artificial intelligence models, including Grok, that "support mission-critical operations across Secret and Top-Secret classified networks.'" A separate declaration filed by Cameron Stanley, the chief digital and artificial intelligence officer at the Department of Defense, details how the military relies on Grok's Gov model to "support vital national security missions." That includes using the model as part of recent strikes against Iran. Forcing xAI to stop running the gas turbines powering Colossus 2, Stanley says, "directly threatens ongoing national security interests." xAI -- which is part of SpaceX -- shot to national notoriety in 2024 when residents of southwest Memphis began raising the alarm that the company had begun running unpermitted gas turbines at its first data center site. The Memphis region has some of the highest asthma rates in the country, and residents worried about additional pollution from the unpermitted turbines. State agencies in both Tennessee and Mississippi have claimed that the company has a year to run the turbines without clean air permits -- a claim that, the NAACP argues, is not consistent with the Environmental Protection Agency's regulations. The original lawsuit filed by the NAACP identified 27 turbines operating without a permit at its site in Southaven. But emails between xAI and state regulators obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), a partner in the NAACP lawsuit, show that as of mid-May, there were 57 turbines operating without permits at the Colossus 2 site. Many of those turbines, the emails show, were added weeks after the NAACP filed its lawsuit. The growth of Colossus 2's turbines from 27 to 57 means, according to the SELC, that the site has seen a 111 percent increase in nitrogen oxide emissions, a 83 percent increase in PM2.5 emissions, and an 88 percent increase in formaldehyde emissions since April.

Justice Department backs xAI in NAACP lawsuit over data center pollution - Engadget

The agency argues that xAI's operations are integral to US military operations. The Department of Justice, along with the state of Mississippi, are asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit the NAACP filed against xAI in April. If you'll recall, the organization sued xAI for allegedly operating methane gas turbines to power its Colossus 2 data center in South Memphis without the proper permit. It later asked the court for an injunction to stop xAI from running the turbines, explaining that they increase "risks of asthma attacks and heart disease." According to Wired, the Justice Department has submitted a filing to the court, siding with Elon Musk's company and arguing that its operations are integral to US military operations, including the Iran War. In its lawsuit, the NAACP accused xAI of operating 27 gas turbines without permission. Gas turbines are known to emit pollution, hazardous chemicals and fine particulate matter. Those are already concerning due to the data center's proximity to people's homes, but they're even more concerning when you consider that Memphis is one of the asthma capitals of the United States. It ranked second in terms of asthma-related visits to the emergency room back in 2024, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. It's worth noting that while the lawsuit was for 27 gas turbines only, the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) later obtained emails showing that xAI added even more turbines after the lawsuit was filed, bringing the total number to 57. In its filing, the Justice Department reportedly wrote that stopping xAI from running its turbines to power Colossus 2 "threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations." It added that it only uses four AI models to support mission-critical operations across top-secret classified networks, with Grok being one of them. Cameron Stanley, the chief digital and AI officer at the Defense Department, also submitted a filing in support of xAI, detailing how Grok's Gov model supports "vital national security missions." He also said stopping the turbines from running the data center "directly threatens ongoing national security interests."

xAI's polluting turbines are 'vital' to war, DOJ argues

The Justice Department has intervened to help Elon Musk's company throw out the NAACP's pollution lawsuit, arguing that the gas turbines powering Grok are essential to military operations, including the Iran War. The US Justice Department has taken Elon Musk's side in a pollution lawsuit, arguing that the gas turbines powering his AI data centre are too important to national security to switch off. In a filing on Monday, the department, joined by the state of Mississippi, asked a court to dismiss the case the NAACP brought against xAI in April. It is an unusual move: the government intervening to defend a private company against an environmental claim. The NAACP sued over the methane gas turbines powering xAI's Colossus 2 data centre near Memphis, which it says run without the proper Clean Air Act permits. It has asked the court to halt them, citing higher 'risks of asthma attacks and heart disease' for nearby residents. 'National security' as a defence The Justice Department's argument is striking. Stopping the turbines, it wrote, 'threatens American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations'. It said the government relies on just four AI models for mission-critical work on top-secret networks, and that xAI's Grok is one of them. Cameron Stanley, the Defense Department's chief digital and AI officer, filed separately to say Grok's government model supports 'vital national security missions', including the recent Iran War. In other words, the feed-the-war-machine argument now extends to the power plant behind the chatbot, days after questions over Grok's slow federal uptake shadowed the record SpaceX IPO that folded xAI in. An 'asthma capital' next door The community case is hard to wave away. The turbines emit nitrogen oxides, fine particulate matter and other hazardous pollutants, and they sit beside homes in a largely Black part of South Memphis. Memphis ranked second in the US for asthma-related emergency-room visits in 2024, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. The NAACP's suit named 27 turbines, but emails obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center later showed xAI kept adding more, to around 46, after the case was filed. (Engadget puts the total at 57.) xAI has not been found liable, and denies it needs the permits the NAACP says it skipped. It filed its own motion to dismiss on Monday. The contradiction Musk can't shake The standoff sharpens a tension that trailed SpaceX into its IPO: the same Musk empire that sells Tesla solar burns gas, around the clock, to train Grok. That clash is not unique to Memphis. Across the industry, AI's power hunger is colliding with the grid and the communities near it, from Europe asking households to cut usage to US utilities planning $1.4tn in new spending to keep up. What is new is the government's willingness to label one company's private data centre a strategic asset, and to fight in court to keep it running. xAI's neighbours are now arguing not just with Musk, but with the Department of War.