The Daily Populous Monday January 19th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by speedythefirst

A US regulator ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company had acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power huge datacenters in Tennessee.

xAI has been fighting for a year and a half over truck-sized gas turbines the company had parked near its Colossus 1 and 2 facilities, arguing to local authorities that the electricity-generating turbines were exempt from requirements for air quality permits.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared on Thursday that the generators were not exempt. In its ruling, the agency revised the policies around gas turbines, saying that operating the machines still requires air permits even if they are used on a portable or temporary basis, as had been the case.

When xAI first installed the portable turbines at Colossus 1, it took advantage of a local county loophole allowing the operation of generators without permits so long as the machines did not sit in one place for more than 364 days. At one point, up to 35 of these generators were powering Colossus 1. xAI eventually received permits for 15 turbines at Colossus 1 and is now operating 12 permitted machines at the site.

Under the EPA’s new ruling, the permitting for these turbines would fall under federal law. It is unclear how or whether the government will penalize companies who are not in compliance. The EPA spokesperson did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about enforcement.

The ruling is a win for community activists in Memphis who have been battling xAI’s use of the portable turbines as long as the generators have been in use. They say the datacenter, which sits a few miles from historically Black neighborhoods, has been adding extra pollution to already overburdened communities.

“Our communities, air, water and land are not playgrounds for billionaires chasing another buck,” said Abre’ Conner, the director of environmental and climate justice for the NAACP, which initiated a lawsuit against xAI last July saying the unpermitted turbines were violating the Clean Air Act.

Methane gas turbines pump harmful nitrogen oxides into the air, which are known to cause cancer, asthma and other upper respiratory diseases.

“The agency estimates the final action will result in the net annual [nitrogen oxide] emission reductions of up to 296 tons by 2032,” an EPA spokesperson told the Guardian.

For xAI, which makes the chatbot Grok, the turbines are necessary to supply additional power to its huge supercomputers. At full capacity, xAI’s Colossus 1 datacenter uses 150 megawatts of electricity – enough power to run 100,000 homes – and the company plans to expand.

Musk set up Colossus 1 in just 122 days during the summer of 2024, record time for getting a datacenter up and running. Colossus 2, which is even bigger at 1m-square-feet, went under construction last year and is located on the border of Memphis in Southaven, Mississippi. A third xAI data center, also in Southaven, just got under way last week. In a post on X, Musk said this supercomputer was named “MACROHARDRR” and would need nearly 2 gigawatts of computing power.

Colossus 2 also is also powered by dozens of gas turbines. According to Mississippi Today, the datacenter has 59 generators; 18 of those are considered to be temporary and do not have air quality permits.

Amanda Garcia, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed the intent to sue xAI alongside the NAACP, said the EPA ruling “makes it clear that companies are not – and have never been – allowed to build and operate methane gas turbines without a permit and that there is no loophole that would allow corporations to set up unpermitted power plants”.

“We expect local health leaders to take swift action to ensure they are following federal law and to better protect neighbors from harmful air pollution,” Garcia added.

xAI did not return a request for comment.

Sharp-Calligrapher70 on January 18th, 2026 at 18:31 UTC »

Generation of electricity at the expense of the environment by burning fossil fuels without permission from local government.

Saved you a click.

bauhaus83i on January 18th, 2026 at 18:29 UTC »

They we’re using portable gas turbines in Memphis for more electricity. The rules exempted portable generators that moved once per year, but now they’re getting cracked down on.

nashfrostedtips on January 18th, 2026 at 18:29 UTC »

Elon involved in something shady?! What a surprise.

America under Trump is a world where the wealthy face no consequences for anything, not holding my breath on this leading to anything. I half expect the response to be Trump just dissolving the EPA.