Elon Musk's xAI Data Centers Spark Nationwide Backlash Over Environmental Impact and Pollution

Elon Musk's Memphis AI empire is the epicenter of the data center backlash

Public opposition to data centers is rising in response to developments planned or underway from Microsoft, Meta, Google, OpenAI and other hyperscalers. Two years after Elon Musk made Greater Memphis the center of his artificial intelligence ambitions, building data centers and energy infrastructure at breakneck speed, residents are grappling with unwanted effects, including noise and emissions from the natural gas-burning turbines. Now, public opposition to the SpaceXAI sites, known as Colossus and Colossus II, is providing a blueprint for other communities across the country opposed to AI developments. This week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul enacted a one-year moratorium on the construction of AI data centers in her state, drawing the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, an ally of Musk. And last week, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill enacted legislation to ensure data center operators pay a fair share for electricity, instead of shifting costs to residents and businesses. Other policy proposals, protests and litigation are underway, many directly citing Memphis and SpaceXAI, which was acquired by Musk's defense contractor, SpaceX, in February. "When you think about what precedent Colossus has set, it hasn't been a great one," said Jigar Shah, the former director of the U.S. Department of Energy loan program office, and a long-time energy entrepreneur. "It certainly is a case study for what not to do in most of the rest of the country. But from a capitalist standpoint, they got rewarded." In June, SpaceX pulled off a record-setting IPO, with AI and its Colossus I and II facilities at the heart of its growth narrative. Google, Anthropic and Reflection AI have all inked agreements with SpaceX to rent excess computing capacity at Colossus and Colossus II, deals worth up to $2.32 billion per month. Residents don't feel the same benefits. Several told CNBC that SpaceXAI never consulted with them about their plans before they broke ground, though it was clear the data centers would profoundly impact nearby neighborhoods. Today, the noise from Colossus II and its gas-burning turbines is "like a form of torture," said Jason Haley of Southaven, Miss., whose house is within a mile of the site. Southaven is part of the Greater Memphis area. Opposition to data centers is rising, and not just against xAI, but also in response to developments planned or underway from Microsoft, Meta, Google, OpenAI and other so-called hyperscalers. In May, seven in 10 Americans said they oppose the construction of data centers for AI in their local area, according to a Gallup poll. Nearly half, or 48%, said they were strongly opposed. Even Musk has acknowledged the public distaste for AI data centers and power plants to run them. "There are very few people who want a power plant in their backyard," Musk said in an interview with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in the road show ahead of SpaceX's IPO. "If we wanted to, say, double the electricity usage of the United States," he said, "we would have to build twice as many power plants. Most communities are not super excited about that." Musk and SpaceX did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the backlash to their buildout in Memphis. SpaceXAI has purchased over 1,100 acres in Greater Memphis for its data centers and power plant. The data centers were initially built to train and run xAI's Grok AI models and chatbot, which was steeped in controversy. Data centers have been around for decades, but a building boom started after generative AI triggered an explosion in the need for data processing and power. The facilities typically require vast plots of land, energy to power the chips and servers inside, and water to cool high-tech equipment. For all their complexity, once built, data centers don't require a large workforce for operations, and don't always generate a huge number of new jobs or vast amounts of tax revenue. Memphis residents and climate advocates are sharing their experiences as a cautionary tale, using lessons learned to help other communities push for updated regulations, or more favorable deals with data center developers. Their testimonies have directly and indirectly influenced policies, lawsuits, elections and movements taking shape beyond Memphis. Communities in nearby Olive Branch and Jackson, for example, updated their zoning laws, citing a wish to avoid the pitfalls Memphis residents faced when Musk moved to town. In June, Utah state Senate president Stuart Adams lost in the Republican primary after he supported a proposed data center backed by investor Kevin O'Leary. Two other local officials who backed the project also lost in primary elections. Musk's Colossus I data center was completed in just 122 days, he said in a post on Sept. 2, 2024, announcing that the data center had been brought online. During its first year in operation, SpaceXAI paid $25 million in taxes, making it the second largest tax-paying property in Shelby County after FedEx, said Memphis Mayor Paul Young, who helped bring the data center business to the county. "Ever since this project began, we were looking at how to mitigate the potential negative impacts and how to amplify the positives," Young said. He acknowledged that SpaceX has not yet delivered everything it promised, such as the delayed construction of a water recycling plant meant to reduce the company's need for huge amounts of water to cool equipment at Colossus. Residents around Greater Memphis told CNBC their water and electricity bills have gone up after SpaceXAI moved to town. Memphis Light Gas & Water said that water and electricity rates "have not been impacted" by SpaceXAI. An "electric rate increase plan of 4% for 3 years beginning in 2024 was not due to any data center load," a spokesperson for the utility told CNBC via email. Last year, Haley joined a neighborhood group called the Safe and Sound Coalition, to take noise measurements, raise awareness and push the company and municipal leaders to make changes. In March, Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite pledged to "step-up tougher enforcement" on the noise but told Haley, in e-mails read by CNBC, "you may want to consider selling your home." Musselwhite told CNBC in an email on Thursday that he has "worked countless hours to mitigate noise concerns," and "never told a citizen to move." Haley and other Southaven residents sued SpaceX in a proposed class action lawsuit filed in June this year, alleging the company created a "public nuisance" with noise from Colossus II. Following in their footsteps, neighbors to Microsoft's Fairwater Data Center in Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin, this month filed a proposed class action suit over noise issues. In April, the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice sued Musk's company on behalf of the NAACP in a federal court in Mississippi. They allege the company has violated the federal Clean Air Act by using dozens of gas-burning turbines without required permits, and without pollution controls in place from the start to power its facilities. The types of turbines SpaceXAI used in Memphis can emit thousands of tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides per year, according to manufacturers' spec sheets. SpaceXAI also emits particulate matter called "PM 2.5," or "particle pollution," from construction and operations. NAACP's lawyers asked a judge for an emergency injunction in May to stop SpaceX from using dozens of turbines in Southaven. The U.S. Department of Justice swiftly stepped in, asking the court to toss the suit. As part of their motion to intervene last month, the DOJ said SpaceXAI's technology had been used in American military operations in Iran, and was now crucial for national security. They also argued the suit "threatens" America's national, economic and energy security. SpaceX is defending against the NAACP lawsuit, arguing the turbines currently on site are only temporary, and plans are in place for permitted turbines with pollution controls. The NAACP released a guide for communities in January on how to protect themselves from "dirty data," and a framework companies can follow to avoid clashes with neighbors like SpaceXAI experienced in Memphis. Attorney Abre' Conner, who leads the NAACP Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, said SpaceXAI and other companies are moving to areas that have already experienced industrial pollution, "deepening the sacrifice zones that many of these community members have been fighting to get out of for so long." In Whitehaven, Tennessee, where a majority of residents are black, long-time resident Loretta Thornton said she had invested some retirement and savings into reframing her house, which borders the fence line of Colossus II. She said suggestions to sell and move away don't seem viable, especially with housing costs and interest rates rising. "You just have to endure this. And that's all I'm doing," Thornton said. "I know I cannot sell my property. Who will want to buy it, living beside this thing?" -- CNBC producer Andrew Evers contributed reporting. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

SpaceXAI's Unpermitted Data Center Power Project Impacts Black Communities, Analysis Finds

SpaceXAI, the AI division of SpaceX, operates dozens of unpermitted gas turbines, and it's disproportionately impacting the Black communities living near them, according to a Reuters report from Tuesday. Elon Musk owns an estimated 42% of SpaceX, which is now a publicly traded company. The gas turbines power Colossus 2, the data center that runs SpaceXAI's Grok chatbot, located near Memphis, Tennessee, one of the largest majority-Black cities in the nation. Most of the turbines are located just across the state line from the data center, in Southaven, Mississippi. The Reuters report cites communications between regulators and SpaceXAI representatives that reportedly prove the turbines have been operating without federal clean air permits even though their potential emissions exceed the threshold for a permit requirement. Gas turbines are internal combustion engines that rely on natural gas to spin the turbine and generate energy. They have been particularly popular as the driving engine of Silicon Valley's unprecedented data center buildout effort. The turbines emit smog-forming pollution, fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde, which can be tied to increases in asthma and even certain cancers. The Memphis region, where the turbines are located, already has some of the most troubling asthma rates in the nation. Meanwhile, according to the NAACP, SpaceXAI's power plant is the top emitter of smog-forming nitrogen oxide in the country, with the reported ability to emit more than 5,300 tons each year. The company currently operates 59 natural gas turbines in the area, according to the Reuters report, more than double the 27 turbines previously reported. That number is looking likely to continue growing, considering that the parent company SpaceX shared its plans to buy roughly $2 billion more mobile gas turbines and related equipment to power its data centers, according to the company's IPO filing unveiled in May. The situation had been brought under scrutiny by civil rights organizations before the Reuters report, particularly by the NAACP, which filed a lawsuit against both SpaceXAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech back in April. In that lawsuit, the NAACP claimed that SpaceXAI was unlawfully operating 27 gas turbines near Memphis without an air permit, thereby polluting homes, schools, and churches in historically Black communities in the surrounding area. The civil rights organization is asking the court to declare SpaceXAI's action in violation of the Clean Air Act, force it to cease operations at the unpermitted turbines, and impose financial penalties. SpaceXAI argues that the turbines don't require permits. Last month, the Department of Justice and the state of Mississippi both moved to intervene in the NAACP's lawsuit, claiming that SpaceXAI's business is a matter of national security. The AI industry is undertaking an unprecedented level of infrastructure buildout, with the impact disproportionately landing on rural and minority communities. In a study conducted last year, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative also found that those living within one mile of an EPA-regulated data center were breathing above average air pollution and also tended to be communities of color compared to the national median. It's not just Black communities like in Memphis that are plagued with these issues. The list also includes tribal lands where permit delays are less of a problem and new projects can be sped through to approval. The health impact these gargantuan facilities have on neighboring communities has been the focus of scrutiny over the past few months as local backlash builds up, in some instances leading to tangible regulatory change. On Tuesday, New York became the first state to enact a moratorium banning the construction of new large data centers until their environmental impacts are thoroughly reviewed, which is expected to take around a year.

Mississippi homeowners blame a noisy data center plant for sleepless nights. The mayor's advice? "Consider selling."

Lauren Fichten is a journalist at CBS News covering artificial intelligence, digital safety and online extremism. She joined CBS News after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill and was previously an associate producer at the CBS News National Desk. It was 4 a.m. on a Sunday and 46-year-old Jason Haley was once again wide awake. The suburban silence that Haley had grown used to in his two decades as a resident of Southaven, Mississippi, had, for the last few months, been replaced by a constant whirring, like an airplane hovering over his home, he said. The noise keeping Haley awake was coming from a plant powering Elon Musk's xAI data centers in the area, according to a lawsuit filed in June against the company and its subsidiary, MZX Tech. Haley and two other Southaven residents, who live within a mile of the plant, allege in the suit that "near-constant" noise and vibrations are causing negative physical and psychological health effects. The filing comes amid growing resistance toward data center development, with the majority of Americans opposing local construction of a data center, according to a Gallup poll published earlier this year. Similar disputes are playing out across the country, like in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, where a lawsuit this month filed by residents alleges a data center emits "unreasonable and excessive noise" onto residents' properties and in Lowell, Massachusetts, where noise from a data center's cooling center "disrupts neighbors' sleep," according to an April suit. There are more than 4,000 data centers in the U.S., according to a recent United Nations report. To power the data centers, developers are building their own plants, sometimes with little warning to residents like Haley. Haley reached out to Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite about the noise in emails he shared with CBS News. In one last November, he urged Musselwhite to drive through the neighborhood "and take a listen to the constant high pitch noises." "I am aware of the noise and working on a solution with xAI officials," Musselwhite had responded to Haley an hour later. "It is a problem," he said in another email later in the day. But soon, another sleepless night rolled around and Haley was emailing the mayor again. "Anyone else I can reach out to?" Haley wrote to Musselwhite. "It's almost 4 am and I can hear it from my bed. The high pitch and roaring combined is full force at this time. My ears are ringing. I can't live in this. How was this ever approved?" "I don't care that this is Elon's project" Just north of Southaven, which sits on the Mississippi-Tennessee border, xAI's data center Colossus went online in Memphis in September 2024. The company dubbed it "the world's largest AI supercomputer." By late July 2025, Musk was announcing that another data center, Colossus 2, was set to begin operation in the area within weeks. Days later, an announcement popped into the Facebook feeds of Southaven residents: An energy facility that had been dormant for decades will be revived to support xAI's expanding data center operations in the area, Musselwhite said. The post was met by a flood of comments, with some lauding the development and others expressing concern about the plant's impact on the environment and strain on local resources. Meanwhile, Haley started hearing sounds. "My first thought was somebody's got a leaf blower going all the time," he said. By December, the noise had become a fixture. He started getting headaches, stopped getting sleep and slipped into feelings of hopelessness and depression. The noise was inescapable, he said, and despite his best efforts to drown it out (sleeping with earplugs, getting a box fan for white noise), it continued to drone on. So Haley began speaking up -- at city government meetings, on Facebook and through TikTok, where he posts videos of himself measuring the noise with a sound meter. He later became involved in a grassroots coalition called Safe and Sound, drawing awareness to concerns surrounding xAI's undertakings in the region. The "activist" label is one he's reluctantly accepted. "I've never been into any kind of activism, never really kept up with politics a whole lot," he said. "I'm just a guy that has a problem with this noise, and started speaking out and trying to raise awareness." When he emailed Musselwhite about the noise again in December, his message came with a disclosure: "I am not a republican or democrat, I don't care that this is Elon's project. I didn't know whose it was when I started complaining about the noise that started in August." Musselwhite responded a few days later. "As I mentioned to you in the public meeting, you seem to be a reasonable person," he said. "I will give you some unsolicited advice from an older man, be careful with whom you associate so you don't damage your credibility." By January, xAI was expanding its footprint with a third data center in Southaven, MACROHARDDR. As residents like Haley continued pushing back online and in city meetings, Musselwhite had a new message. Southaven, he said in a Facebook post, was "under attack by all who choose to oppose Elon Musk because of his high-profile political stances." He warned residents to "beware of the smokescreen of radical politics." In his emails to Haley, Musselwhite continued to acknowledge the noise as a problem. "The noise issue is one of my highest priorities and I have been in detailed discussions with xAI and many independent professionals to resolve this," he wrote in March. But in the same email, he offered Haley more advice: "I know they want houses for employees, so you may want to consider selling your home." CBS News made multiple attempts to speak with Musselwhite and did not receive a reply. Migraines, ringing ears and sleepless nights Moving isn't Haley's preference, but he said he is in the financial position to do so if he chooses. That's not the case for everyone. A little over a decade ago, 31-year-old Taylor Logsdon bought a home for her growing family in Southaven and began building her life around it. "We loved it here," she said. "It was peaceful, it was quiet, didn't have to worry about nothing." But that was before the noise, so loud, she said, that it sometimes shakes her home. Logsdon, who is also involved in the Safe and Sound coalition and is suing xAI with Haley and one other Southaven resident, said she has experienced migraines and anxiety as a result of the noise. She said she has persistent ringing in her ears and so do her children. A full night of sleep has become rare for the family. "I would move tomorrow if I could," she said, adding that she needs to save money before she can afford to move. Her children, all under the age of 13, are having trouble staying awake at school. "One of them is extra angry all the time -- never, never has been that way, but he's just irritable like all the time," she said. "I feel like I'm snappier too." xAI spent millions of dollars trying to mitigate the sound with a sound wall, a berm and evergreen trees, Musselwhite said in a February Facebook post. "It still hasn't helped. It hasn't even put a dent in it," Logsdon said. People living in areas where there is "constant humming or buzzing" report headaches, stress and sleep disturbance, said Dr. Samoon Ahmad, a clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University. A 2023 study found that environmental noise exposure can lead to adverse associations for cardiovascular disease and mortality, diabetes, hearing impairment, neurological disorders and adverse reproductive outcomes. "People think of annoyance as an abstract term," Ahmad said. "It's not an abstract term because it has real physiological ramifications." The World Health Organization recommends less than 40 decibels of annual average nighttime noise outside of bedrooms to prevent adverse health effects. Haley has recorded noise levels over 60 decibels as late as 10:15 p.m. from his Southaven backyard. Musk's Memphis Even before Logsdon and Haley decided to take action against xAI, Musk's growing presence in the Memphis area garnered attention from advocacy groups over health and environmental concerns. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed a lawsuit in April against xAI claiming the Southaven plant emits "significant" amounts of harmful pollutants from its 27 gas turbines, which has since increased to 59, according to a court filing reviewed by CBS News. The NAACP has also filed an appeal to challenge the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's decision to issue an air permit allowing the Southaven plant to operate 41 permanent methane gas turbines. An independent study found their operation would increase air pollution in an area already grappling with a disproportionate number of asthma-related emergency room visits. CBS News has reached out to xAI for comment. Musk's investment in the latest Southaven data center brings his company's contribution to the area to $20 billion, according to the office of Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves. The governor called it "the largest economic development project in Mississippi's history." Musk's financial footprint has also extended beyond the data centers -- MZX Tech donated over $1.3 million to the Southaven Police Department in February, according to the donation agreement obtained by CBS News, and has offered half-priced Starlink for those in the Memphis region. But Logsdon says the cost to her and her family's health has her wondering why it feels like her city is willing to "hurt the few to get the benefits." "We were not a failure town before," Logsdon said. "It's not like our economics were terrible here." Southaven had a median household income of over $70,000 in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau -- $20,000 more than the state average. Logsdon, currently a stay-at-home mom, will be searching for work this fall so she and her husband can start saving up to move away from the plant. For now, her goal is a full night's sleep. "I hope that my family can go back to having our normal," she said. "Being able to sleep at night, being able to enjoy my backyard, being able to go swimming."

Pollution From Musk's Unpermitted XAI Power Project Hits Hardest in Black Communities

By Disha Raychaudhuri and Valerie Volcovici July 14 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI has installed 59 natural gas turbines for its Colossus 2 data center project in Tennessee without securing federal clean air permits, according ⁠to communications between ⁠regulators and xAI representatives. Potential emissions from the turbines are far beyond the threshold that would require a federal permit, ⁠and would be released near predominantly Black communities already estimated to be suffering disproportionately high rates of lung disease, according to a Reuters analysis based on government data and information in the correspondence with regulators. The findings, which have not been previously reported, reflect how exploding electricity demand from AI data centers is driving companies to build off-grid power plants at a pace outstripping environmental oversight, with potentially big risks to public health. The number of unpermitted turbines identified by Reuters is about double what xAI has publicly acknowledged. The company previously said it was running 27 unpermitted turbines for Colossus 2 as of January and has argued the permits are not required. At least 57 of the 59 turbines are located in Mississippi, just over the state line from Tennessee where the data center is located. The xAI turbines are among scores of off-grid power plants for data centers proposed or under construction around the country. Local authorities often fast-track approvals in just weeks or months, without the years of environmental studies and public hearings typically required for such power generation projects that connect to the grid, Reuters has reported. Mississippi regulators in March issued a permit for permanent turbines for Colossus 2, allowing construction of 41 gas-fired turbines. The approval came three weeks after the state's only public hearing on the ⁠project. The xAI cluster of temporary turbines in Mississippi is ⁠already among the biggest off-grid data center power projects, according to Ben King, an analyst with think tank Rhodium Group, who reviewed the Reuters analysis. "This looks to be an unprecedented level of behind-the-meter gas being installed in one place," he said, referring to off-grid natural gas plants serving just one customer. The communications reviewed by Reuters show xAI, now owned by trillionaire Musk's SpaceX, has installed 57 off-grid turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, just across the state line from its Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, a facility supporting the Grok chatbot and other AI systems. The records show the company has also installed two other unpermitted turbines for the project on a different site. Reuters could not determine the location. The communications, obtained through a Reuters public records request, included emails between Trinity Consultants, representing xAI and subsidiary MZX Tech, and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). xAI did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. xAI's turbines are part of a widening environmental justice battle over whether the AI boom is adding disproportionate pollution burdens to communities of color. Civil rights groups including the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center sued xAI in April to halt their operations, arguing the turbines produce emissions subject to the federal Clean Air Act and shouldn't be operated without permits. They contend the turbines are polluting homes, schools and churches in historically Black communities. "The scale of it is astonishing," said Patrick Anderson, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. "This is an absolutely huge Clean Air Act violation that threatens public health." Securing a Clean Air ⁠Act ⁠permit would have exposed xAI's project to extensive review and public comment, potentially ⁠taking years. Mississippi environmental regulators and xAI have argued in court filings that the turbines are exempt because they are "mobile" and intended to operate onsite for less than a year. "MDEQ has determined that portable/temporary turbines do not require an air permit," the agency said in a statement to Reuters. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in January 2026 that even temporary turbines exceeding emissions thresholds must obtain permits. The agency, however, told Reuters it's considering changes allowing "regulatory flexibilities" for portable units while continuing to protect public health. xAI, the MDEQ and the EPA ⁠did not answer questions from Reuters about pollution impacts on communities of color from power generation to serve data centers. The U.S. Justice Department weighed in on the lawsuit in a June 15 filing, saying that restricting the turbines could threaten national security interests because xAI's systems support U.S. military operations, including operations involving Iran. The outcome of the lawsuit filed by civil rights groups could help define how environmental laws apply to the fast-growing AI sector, where companies are scrambling to bring power supplies online to support energy-intensive computing. "This sets up scenarios where the government can create sacrifice zones and tell communities they have to breathe illegal air pollution," said Mary Rock, a senior attorney for Earthjustice which is representing the NAACP and SELC. The dispute echoes the findings of a 2022 study by researchers from UCLA and Columbia University and published in the Nature Energy journal that found that previously redlined communities - where banks historically discriminated against Black mortgage applicants - now face disproportionately high exposure to pollutants from fossil fuel facilities. "Air pollution from these and other sources contributes to systemic racial disparities in chronic disease and ultimately shorter lives," Lara Cushing, a UCLA public health professor who co-authored the study, told Reuters. BIG EMISSIONS The emails reviewed by Reuters included the manufacturer emissions profiles for 32 of the 59 turbines, including 30 at the Southaven site. A Reuters analysis based on that information found that ⁠those 30 turbines alone could emit nearly 2,500 short tons of nitrogen oxide, 4,000 short tons of carbon monoxide and 22 short tons of formaldehyde annually, assuming they operate continuously at 80% of capacity. According to the EPA, gas turbines are typically operated at loads ⁠of 80% or more to achieve efficiency. Nitrogen oxides contribute to smog and respiratory inflammation, according to the American Lung Association. Carbon monoxide deprives the body of oxygen, and formaldehyde is a carcinogen. The xAI site's potential emissions far exceed a Clean Air Act threshold that requires permitting for facilities capable of more than 100 short tons annually of pollutants such as nitrogen oxide. "This is a massive amount of turbines and an unfathomable amount of air pollution," Southaven resident Shannon Samsa said in an interview. "It's not a hypothetical," she said, "that air pollution is bad for you." The nitrogen oxide emissions calculated by Reuters for about half the plant's turbines would put the facility "up there with some of the heaviest polluting natural gas power plants across the entire country," said Nicholas Mailloux, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies air quality and health benefits of the clean-energy transition. He said the facility would be on par with the top 25 U.S. gas plants for nitrogen oxide emissions, citing EPA data for actual emissions. THE PEOPLE AFFECTED In the Colonial Hills neighborhood of Southaven, the turbines serving Colossus 2 can be heard around the clock, often firing off noisy bursts that residents compare to jet engines. Ervin Laws, a Colonial Hills resident in his 20s, said the noise wakes him up at night. "I can't do anything about it, because he's got more money than me," he said, referring to Musk. The turbines were installed in communities already estimated to be facing relatively high respiratory disease burdens, according to a Reuters analysis of CDC data. In 27 of 28 census tracts within five miles of the site - spanning both Mississippi and Tennessee - the estimated asthma rates were higher than their respective countywide figures. In 24 tracts, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease rates were also higher. Five miles is a distance commonly used in environmental health research to capture populations likely to be exposed to air pollution from a stationary source. A separate Reuters analysis of Census Bureau data found that the residents living near the facility are disproportionately Black. Because the five-mile radius crosses state lines, Reuters compared each side against its own county baseline. Within five miles of the facility in DeSoto county, Mississippi - where the turbines are located - about 46% of residents are Black, compared with 33% countywide, according to ⁠census data. Across the state line in Tennessee, where residents have no say in Mississippi's permitting process, about 94% of residents within five miles of the facility are Black, compared to 52% in surrounding Shelby County. Jayajit Chakraborty, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said the Reuters analysis was consistent with research that shows communities of color face higher exposure to fossil fuel pollution. Shelby County and portions of DeSoto County have also previously failed to meet federal ozone standards and remain subject to EPA-approved plans to ensure they do not slip back into violation, according to regulatory documents. Nitrogen oxide is a key precursor to ozone formation, which the EPA says can harm respiratory health. "Given this community struggles with high asthma rates, additional NOx exposure at such high rates could exacerbate public health issues in a community that is already seeing more than its fair share of exposure to toxic air pollution," said Victoria Nelson, an independent environmental engineer, formerly at EPA. Sarah Gladney, 72, has watched the rapid expansion of xAI's Memphis-area presence from her home in the historically Black neighborhood of Boxtown, a few miles from where the company built its Colossus 1 data center in 2024. "Once they got their foot in the door in Memphis, I feel like it's going to be a continuous movement of xAI into these other communities," she said. "It's all about the money, and it's not about the health or wellness of the people that live in or near these communities." (Reporting by Disha Raychaudhuri and Valerie Volcovici; photos by Kevin Wurm; editing by David Gaffen, Kat Stafford, Ben Lesser and Richard Valdmanis)