xAI Adds 19 New Gas Turbines Despite Ongoing Lawsuit
Emails show that Elon Musk’s company is expanding its use of portable gas-fired power at its Colossus 2 site as a fight over air quality continues.
xAI has added 19 natural gas turbines to its second data center campus in Southaven, Mississippi, over the past two months, according to internal emails seen by WIRED.
The additions come as xAI is fighting a lawsuit from the NAACP and several environmental groups, alleging that the company is violating the Clean Air Act by operating more than two dozen natural gas turbines at the site without appropriate air permits.
Emails between an official in the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and a representative from Trinity Consultants, obtained via a public records request by the Southern Environmental Law Center and shared with WIRED, show that xAI installed 19 portable gas turbines on its site in Southaven between late March and early May. That brings the total to 46 turbines operating at the site.
A spreadsheet included in the email to MDEQ has a column labeled “Total Power Output” that appears to list the megawatt capacity of each turbine on the site. MDEQ spokesperson Jan Schaefer confirmed to WIRED that that column indicated the megawatt output of each turbine, meaning that xAI added more than 500 megawatts of natural gas turbines since mid-March.
Burning natural gas can release planet-warming emissions and worsen air quality. xAI did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment. The additions of the new turbines to the site, dubbed Colossus 2, were first reported by Mississippi Today.
“As indicated by the facility, all portable/temporary turbines are equipped with control technology to minimize emissions,” agency spokesperson Jan Schaefer told Mississippi Today. “MDEQ is evaluating the situation and will make the facility aware as to when it can no longer bring additional portable/temporary turbines on-site.”
