NAACP suit says SpaceX's xAI powers a Mississippi data center with unpermitted gas turbines

What happened: A federal judge in Mississippi ruled on Monday, Oct. 19, that the Justice Department may join the NAACP's Clean Air Act lawsuit against xAI but will not be allowed to dismiss it. Who's affected: residents near xAI's Southaven power plant, and SpaceX, which acquired xAI in February.

The NAACP says the turbines run without a permit.

The NAACP filed suit on April 14, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi (case 3:26-cv-00074-DMB-JMV). It is represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice. The suit alleges xAI built and operates a gas-turbine power plant that supplies its Colossus 2 data center without a Clean Air Act permit, which the NAACP calls illegal pollution.

The turbine count has grown since filing.

The suit cited 27 turbines when it was filed. A court filing put the count at 57 by May 15. On July 30, SpaceX said 69 temporary turbines were powering the site, according to The Commercial Appeal.

A separate permanent plant has its own permit.

MDEQ issued a permit on March 10 for a separate 41-turbine permanent plant. That permit did not cover the 27 existing turbines, and the suit alleges ongoing violations.

The judge kept the case alive.

In her Oct. 19 opinion, Judge Debra M. Brown allowed the United States to intervene but ruled it will not be allowed to dismiss the case. The government's pleading is due Oct. 23.

SpaceX's position.

The company has said the turbines are mobile, trailer-mounted units that did not need a permit. SpaceX has also said they are temporary and that it will remove them by July 2027 as the permitted plant comes online, according to The Commercial Appeal and TechCrunch.

In plain terms.

The NAACP says a big AI data center is being powered by gas generators that were never approved under federal air-pollution law. The company says the generators are portable and temporary, so they didn't need approval. A judge has decided the lawsuit will go forward even though the federal government wanted it dropped.

Key terms.

• Clean Air Act: the federal law that regulates air pollution, including permits for large emission sources.
• MDEQ: the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, the state air-permitting agency.
• Intervene: when a party not originally in a lawsuit is allowed to join it.
• Colossus 2: xAI's AI data center that the Southaven turbines power.

What's next.

The government's pleading is due Oct. 23. It is not yet known how the court will rule on the NAACP's underlying claims. Sources: the court's Oct. 19 opinion, The Commercial Appeal, the NAACP, TechCrunch and Barron's.