DOJ tries to block environmental lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI
by Lisa Hornung · UPIJune 17 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice is trying to quash a lawsuit against a power plant that supports an xAI data center and is arguing that the turbines are essential to national security.
The suit, filed by the NAACP and several environmental groups against Elon Musk's xAI, alleges that a power plant in Southaven, Miss., is operating without permits and violates the Clean Air Act. The plant powers the xAI Colossus 2 data center, which is over the state line in Memphis, Tenn. Colossus 2 supports the Grok artificial intelligence bot.
The NAACP alleges that the power plant runs 57 turbines with no pollution controls, making it one of the biggest single industrial sources of smog-forming nitrogen oxide in the United States and a significant source of other harmful air pollutants like particulate matter and formaldehyde, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups like children, older adults and low-income or minority households.
The suit demands penalties of about $124,000 per day per violation, The New York Times reported, and an injunction forcing the company to stop the turbines.
xAI has argued that the turbines are temporary and exempt from more stringent permit rules.
The Justice Department on Monday argued that the court should toss the lawsuit because it threatens national security by "seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial-intelligence innovation that supports the Department of War's military operations," a memo signed by Stanley Woodward Jr., associate attorney general, said.
Woodward also argues that the Justice Department should have unchallenged authority to stop environmental lawsuits brought by private groups or people.
"It's remarkable for the United States to intervene on behalf of a polluter in a case like this," said Laura Thoms, director of enforcement at Earthjustice, which represents the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center. "Ordinarily, they would intervene to enforce the law."
The Clean Air Act requires facilities like power plants to have permits and pollution control measures, and private lawsuits supporting the law have long been the norm.
The memo also said the executive branch could block the suit because it's the branch responsible for enforcing the law.
"We feel very confident about defeating these arguments, but it's essentially a massive power grab for the executive branch," Kym Meyer, litigation director at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing the NAACP and Earthjustice, told The Washington Post.
"At a time when the ultra-rich seem to be protected and supported by some of our government entities, it is important that polluting industries don't get to benefit at the expense of the health of Black communities," Abre' Conner, NAACP director of Environmental and Climate Justice, said in a statement. "Laws like the Clean Air Act are a bedrock insurance policy for communities to hold polluters accountable for decisions that cause them harm. This should not be up for debate, and the NAACP will continue to stand up for democracy and against federal bullying and authoritarianism."
In an accompanying filing, Cameron Stanley, the Defense Department's AI official, argued that a version of Grok had been used in an automated targeting and intelligence platform in strikes against Iran.
"In the event of armed conflict or other exigent circumstances affecting national security, DoW [Department of Defense] projects there is a significant likelihood of an immediate and substantial escalation in AI inference demands for Grok Gov Models," Stanley said.
"This isn't about national security; it's a desperate attempt to protect wealthy tech companies from obeying the laws meant to protect people from pollution -- turning our communities into sacrifice zones so companies can build and profit from data centers quicker," Thoms said in a statement.
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