The Department of Justice intervened Monday in the NAACP's lawsuit against xAI, telling a federal court that shutting down the gas turbines powering Elon Musk's Colossus 2 data center would, in its words, threaten "American national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations." The DOJ, joined by xAI and the state of Mississippi, asked the court to dismiss the suit filed in April. At issue are 57 natural gas turbines running without Clean Air Act permits at the Southaven, Mississippi site as of mid-May, up from 27 when the NAACP first sued.
The filing reframes a local air-quality dispute as a national security matter. According to the DOJ memorandum, only four AI models — Grok among them — "support mission-critical operations across Secret and Top-Secret classified networks." A separate declaration from Cameron Stanley, chief digital and artificial intelligence officer at the Department of Defense, ties Grok's Gov model directly to recent US strikes against Iran.
The NAACP's complaint alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act and endangering public health in a region already carrying a heavy pollution burden. In May, the group sought a preliminary injunction to halt the turbines, arguing their continued operation without permits "increases risks of asthma attacks and heart disease" in surrounding communities. State agencies in Tennessee and Mississippi maintain that the company has a year to run the turbines without clean air permits, a reading the NAACP says is inconsistent with EPA regulations.
Key facts
- 01The DOJ filed Monday to dismiss the NAACP suit against xAI's Colossus 2 site in Southaven, Mississippi.
- 02DOJ says only 4 AI models, including Grok, support mission-critical operations on Secret and Top-Secret networks.
- 03Turbines at Colossus 2 grew from 27 in April to 57 by mid-May, all running without Clean Air Act permits.
- 04SELC calculates the expansion drove an 111% rise in nitrogen oxide, 88% in formaldehyde, and 83% in PM2.5 emissions.
- 05A Pentagon declaration cites Grok's Gov model use in recent strikes against Iran as justification.
Stanley's declaration describes the Pentagon's reliance on xAI's classified-tier model in operational terms. He said the model is used to
“support vital national security missions”— Cameron Stanley, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, Department of Defense
The pollution math has shifted sharply since the lawsuit was filed. Emails between xAI and state regulators, obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center, show the site grew from 27 turbines in April to 57 by mid-May — with many added in the weeks immediately after the NAACP filed suit. SELC calculates the expansion drove a 111% increase in nitrogen oxide emissions, an 83% increase in PM2.5, and an 88% increase in formaldehyde at the site.
Stanley's filing leaves little ambiguity about the government's stance on a shutdown order. He wrote that halting the turbines would
“directly threatens ongoing national security interests”— Cameron Stanley, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, Department of Defense
xAI, which sits inside the SpaceX corporate structure, drew national scrutiny in 2024 when residents of southwest Memphis flagged unpermitted gas turbines at the company's first data center. The Memphis region carries some of the highest asthma rates in the country, and the Southaven expansion across the state line into Mississippi has extended the same dispute into a second jurisdiction. The NAACP and SELC argue both states are reading the Clean Air Act's permit grace period more generously than the EPA allows.
The legal question is whether a federal national-security interest can override a Clean Air Act enforcement action brought by a private plaintiff. The DOJ's intervention does not contest the emissions figures or the absence of permits; it argues the court should defer to the executive branch's judgment that xAI's compute capacity is load-bearing for classified military work. The NAACP has not yet filed its response to the dismissal motion.
xAI and the DOJ did not respond to requests for comment. The Southern Environmental Law Center's emissions calculations have not been independently contested by Mississippi regulators in the public docket, and xAI has not disputed the 57-turbine count.
The intervention marks a shift in how Washington treats the physical footprint of frontier AI. Compute and the power feeding it are now being argued in court as defense infrastructure, with a sitting Pentagon AI officer testifying that pulling a specific commercial data center offline would compromise active operations. That framing — if it holds — gives AI builders a federal shield against state and local environmental enforcement that other industrial operators do not enjoy, and it puts plaintiffs like the NAACP in the position of arguing public-health law against a national-security carve-out. Expect every major data center operator with a permitting problem to study this filing closely.
Working on something we should cover, or seeing a story we missed? Send leads, documents, or feedback to hello@aichatdaily.com. For sensitive tips, see our secure tips page for Signal and PGP options.
Spotted an error? Email hello@aichatdaily.com with the URL and the issue, or read our full corrections policy.
