In short
- Xai reportedly has 26 or more guest turbines without required permits or pollution controls.
- Thermal images show turbines that run, despite the fact that the company claims that they were not operational.
- Groups estimate that turbines can emit a maximum of 2,000 tons of nitrogen oxides annually if no checks are placed.
In Memphis’s Boxtown -district, where cancer rates rise to four times more than the national average, residents are confronted with a new threat.
Thermal images are reportedly showing how gas turbines from Xai’s facility pump toxins pump in polluted air, so that a civil rights group is asked to give the AI lab of Elon Musk a deadline: installing contamination controls or undergoing a lawsuit.
In one letterLawyers for the NAACP, via the Southern Environmental Law Center, accused Xai of performing 26 not -made of guest turbines on the supercomputer site of Memphis. The company has 60 days to tackle the alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.
“We can’t afford to normalize this type of environmental,” said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, in a statement. “We will not allow Xai to get away with this.”
Decrypt has contacted Xai for comment.
Data centers that supply AI calculation are power-intensive and require a constant supply of electricity. Energy consumption Van AI facilities are expected to represent 49% of the worldwide data center of electricity use by the end of 2025, as well as even surplus Bitcoin’s energy consumption.
The civil rights organization claims that the XAI turbines have the potential to emit more than 2,000 tonnes of smog -forming nitrogen oxides every year, so that it could make the largest industrial source in Memphis.
Due to slower clean energy implementations, however, the increasing demand for mainly met by using fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal is being used.
Thermal imaging made in April supposedly unveiled Almost all turbines were operational, contradictory with the claims of Xai. The NAACP noted that the correct pollution controls could reduce emissions to around 177 tons per year, which is less than 10% of the current levels.
Local officials, including the mayor of Memphis and the Shelby County Health Department, reportedly claim that a “364-day exemption” applies to the turbines of Xai, said the NAACP, adding that despite these claims they had not identified which specific exemption turbines would cover the size of size of size of size of size of size of size of size of size of the size of size of size.
The emission forecasts are more worrying as Memphis ranks the fifth most sensitive metro area according to a 2025 report Because of the asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
If the negotiations fail and a lawsuit progresses, Xai can be confronted with stopping his activities, as well as considerable fines for every violation.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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