A local health At Memphis, the department has provided an air permit to the XAI data center of Elon Musk to continue operating the gas turbine that provides strength to the company’s Groke Chatbot. This permit comes amidst extensive community opposition and a spectacular case accusing the company of violating the Clean Air Act.
The Shelby County Health Department released its air permit for the XAI project on Wednesday after receiving hundreds of public comments. This news was first reported by the Daily Memphien.
In June, the Memphis Chamber of Commerce announced that XAI had chosen a site in Memphis to create its new supercomputer. The company’s website claims that it was able to manufacture a super computer, colossus in only 122 days. This speed was due to the part of mobile gas turbines, the company began to install a pre -manufacturing facility site, the campus quickly.
Colossus allowed XAI to quickly capture the rivals to Openai, Google and Anthropic in the manufacture of state -of -the -art Artificial Intelligence. It was built using 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPU, making it the largest supercomputer in the world.
XAI’s Memphis Campus is mainly located in a black community, known as BOXTOWN, historically burdened with industrial projects that cause pollution. Gas turbines using XAI in memphis can be an important source of harmful emissions like nitrogen oxide, which create smogs. Memphis already has the highest hair asthma rate in Tennessee. Since XAI started running its turbines, the residents met again and again and held a rally against the project.
“I am afraid, but not surprised,” Keshun Pierceon says, the leaders of the Memphis community against pollution. “The major violations of the Clean Air Act and the burning of the XAI of illegal methane turbines, disregarding our human rights for clean air, has been approved by the Shelby County Health Department as permission. More than 1,000 people demanded public remarks and passed for the ambitious use of a billionaire.”
Under the Clean Air Act, the “major” source of emissions – like a group of gas turbines – require a permit, which is known as the prevention of a significant decline (PSD) permit. However, shelby County Health Department officials told local reporters in August that it was not necessary for XAI as its turbines were not made permanent. Amid growing local opposition, XAI finally applied for a permit with the Shelby County Health Department in January, months later it began to run turbines for the first time.
Last month, the NAACP and the Southern Environment Law Center (SELC) announced that they had intended to sue XAI to violate the Clean Air Act.
In a press release, Senior SELC Attorney Patrick Anderson said, “XAI’s decision to establish and operate dozens of polluting gas turbines without any permits or public inspection is a clear violation of the Clean Air Act.” “During the previous year, these turbines have pumped pollution that threatens the health of the Memphis families. The notice paves the way for a lawsuit that can hold XAI accountable for his illegal refusal to obtain a permit for its gas turbines.”
