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By Disha Raychaudhuri and Valerie VolcoviciElon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has installed 59 natural gas turbines for its Colossus 2 data centre 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 centres is driving companies to build off-grid power plants at a pace outstripping environmental oversight, with potentially big risks to public health.Read: SHAWN HAGEDORN | One trillionaire and a billion poor peopleThe 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 centre is located.The xAI turbines are among scores of off-grid power plants for data centres 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 centre 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.xAI did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.Civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Centre, 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 Centre. “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 on-site for less than a year.The scale of it is astonishing. This is an absolutely huge Clean Air Act violation that threatens public health.— Patrick Anderson, Southern Environmental Law Centre lawyerThe Mississippi department of environmental quality (MDEQ) “has determined that portable/temporary turbines do not require an air permit,” the agency said in a statement to Reuters.The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 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 colour from power generation to serve data centres.The US 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 US 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.The emails reviewed by Reuters included the manufacturer emissions profiles for 32 of the 59 turbines, including 30 at the Southaven site.
