Judge lets NAACP Clean Air Act suit against xAI proceed

A federal judge has denied xAI's motion to dismiss the NAACP's Clean Air Act lawsuit over its Colossus data center outside Memphis, letting the case proceed on all claims, TechCrunch reported.

The suit, brought by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the NAACP, alleges xAI "installed and operated at least 35 combustion turbines and other sources of air pollution at the Colossus site without ever obtaining the necessary preconstruction or operating air permits." xAI had argued the turbines qualify as "mobile sources" exempt from permitting, that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue, and that the Clean Air Act's citizen-suit provision is unconstitutional.

Judge Debra M. Brown rejected all three. "Because the plaintiffs have statutory standing under the Clean Air Act, because the combustion turbines are not 'mobile sources' under Mississippi's [State Implementation Plan], and because the citizen suit provision does not violate Article II of the Constitution or the private nondelegation doctrine, the plaintiffs' claims will proceed," she wrote. On the constitutional challenge, Brown added that citizen suit plaintiffs "are not exercising the federal government's executive power."

Abre' Connor, the NAACP's Director of Environmental and Climate Justice, said in a statement: "The courts have repeatedly rejected attempts by xAI and the DOJ to dismiss the NAACP's Clean Air Act case, affirming our right to pursue justice for communities impacted by pollution. Our position has been clear: xAI cannot operate gas turbines without the required permits."

Earlier in October, a federal court denied a similar motion to dismiss filed by the DOJ. Two of the researchers on our Who's Who radar shared the TechCrunch piece the day it broke.