The US government has intervened in a legal battle over the environmental impact of Elon Musk’s $20bn data center in Mississippi, arguing that blocking the project would jeopardize national security.
In a motion filed this week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) requested the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that xAI illegally installed dozens of natural gas turbines to power its facility in Southaven, Mississippi.
The legal action was initiated in April by the NAACP, the nation’s largest civil rights organization for African Americans. The suit was filed under the 1963 Clean Air Act, which empowers citizens to seek injunctions and civil penalties against entities accused of pollution.
The NAACP contends that xAI bypassed necessary permitting processes, exposing hundreds of thousands of residents in Mississippi and Tennessee to pollutants linked to respiratory illnesses, heart disease, and certain cancers. The lawsuit further highlights that the affected area has a significantly higher proportion of Black residents compared to the general US population.
In its filing with the US District Court on Monday, the DOJ asserted that the NAACP is threatening “national, economic, and energy security” by attempting to disrupt the power supply for AI innovation that supports military operations.
The DOJ further argued that the US Constitution grants the executive branch exclusive discretion to determine when civil penalty enforcement is unwarranted or inconsistent with federal priorities.
Adam Gustafson, the DOJ’s lead prosecutor for the environment and natural resources division, stated that the government would not allow private organizations to use environmental legislation to “undermine our national security.”
xAI, a subsidiary of SpaceX, has not yet responded to requests for comment.
Earthjustice, the advocacy group representing the NAACP, slammed the government’s intervention as a “massive power grab” by the Trump administration.
“Trump’s Justice Department wants to shield Elon Musk’s data center company, xAI, from being held accountable for its illegal pollution,” said Laura Thoms, director of enforcement for Earthjustice. “It’s attempting to grab power from impacted communities, the courts, and Congress to do so. There is no moral or legal precedent for this.”
Abre’ Conner, the NAACP’s director of environmental and climate justice, emphasized that corporate polluters should not profit “at the expense of the health of Black communities.” Conner added that the Clean Air Act serves as a critical insurance policy for communities to hold polluters accountable and that the NAACP will continue to fight against “federal bullying and authoritarianism.”
The Trump administration has maintained a close relationship with Musk, appointing him as a cost-cutting czar and integrating xAI’s Grok model into the Pentagon’s strategy to transition into an “AI-enabled fighting force.”
Supporting the DOJ’s motion, Cameron Stanley, the Pentagon’s top AI official, testified that Grok was utilized to launch over 2,000 munitions at 2,000 targets during the first 96 hours of the US-Israel conflict with Iran.
Stanley stated under oath that if Grok’s deployment or upgrades are hindered by energy limitations or restricted compute capacity, numerous Pentagon tools would be “severely impacted.”
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