(Reuters) – Elon Musk's AI startup xAI has come under fire from environmental and health groups for contributing to pollution in Memphis, Tennessee, by using natural gas-fired turbines at a data center without obtaining the necessary permits.
The Southern Environmental Law Center sent letters to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Health Department in Shelby County, where the data center is located.
“Despite having installed nearly 20 gas turbines totalling approximately 100 MW, enough to power approximately 50,000 homes, xAI does not appear to have applied for air permits for these turbines,” the Aug. 26 letter said.
Environmental advocacy groups have called on the county health department to determine whether xAI is operating these turbines without the necessary air permits and to take enforcement action.
Gas turbines emit huge amounts of fumes that exacerbate Memphis' already poor air quality, the report said.
Musk said late last month that a cluster of powerful Nvidia H100 chips had begun training xAI's Grok AI models, calling the Tennessee data center “the most powerful AI training cluster in the world.”
He added that the facility will provide a major advantage in training the world's most powerful AI by December.
Elon Musk and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri
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