The artificial intelligence project converted a former manufacturing facility into a massive 550-acre computing centre, designed to train Grok—his AI company’s self-styled “anti-woke” chatbot that deliberately challenges conventional boundaries on contentious subjects. While the predominantly Black neighbourhood was already struggling with industrial emissions, Musk’s venture promised substantial employment opportunities and significant tax revenues.

However, for local residents, these promises of economic prosperity came with considerable environmental costs. To power its computational requirements, xAI installed three dozen gas-powered turbines throughout the facility, circumventing traditional environmental assessment procedures and releasing harmful nitrogen oxides in an area already failing to meet federal air quality requirements, according to environmental advocates and legal experts.

Memphis currently experiences worse smog pollution than 86% of major American metropolitan areas, and these turbines would establish the computing facility as the city’s primary source of smog-forming pollutants. The neighbourhood hosting the facility already faces a cancer risk from air pollution four times higher than the national average.

On Tuesday, following months of grassroots activism spearheaded by Memphis Community Against Pollution, the campaign gained national momentum. The NAACP submitted notice of its intention to pursue legal action against xAI for alleged Clean Air Act violations. Under the Clean Air Act’s provisions, potential litigants must file a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue before proceeding with legal action, which the NAACP has now done.

The organisation argues that operating without proper permits represents environmental injustice, where disadvantaged communities shoulder the burden of corporate expansion whilst receiving minimal promised benefits.

During a recent community gathering, LaTricea Adams, founder of Young, Gifted & Green, a national Black environmental organisation, emphasised that even before Musk’s facility arrived, residing in the affected ZIP code—38109—had already adversely impacted Black residents’ health.

The ZIP code currently houses 19 active polluting facilities, including a substantial oil refinery, according to Environmental Protection Agency data. The World Health Organisation identifies pollution exposure as the second most significant factor contributing to premature mortality.

Adams shared personal tragedies, noting her father’s untimely death just before Christmas 2022, followed by her family matriarch’s passing from cancer merely six months later. She also revealed that her great-grandmother developed breast cancer shortly after moving into the neighbourhood.

“Residing in this ZIP code has become a death sentence for Black Memphians,” she declared, characterising it as “a clear act of genocide.”

Life expectancy in the neighbourhood, known locally as Boxtown due to its early Black residents constructing shotgun houses resembling railway boxcars, falls eight years below the American average. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s PLACES database, approximately 45% of inhabitants report experiencing “poor or fair” health—a rate threefold higher than national figures.

“We shall remain steadfast in South Memphis,” she emphasised, referring to the community’s determination to combat the mounting environmental challenges.

This conflict exemplifies the clash between Silicon Valley’s aggressive pursuit of AI advancement and the ongoing nationwide struggles for environmental equity.

“We must not normalise such environmental injustice—where corporations worth billions establish polluting operations in Black neighbourhoods without proper permits, assuming their wealth shields them from community resistance,” stated NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson in an official release.

In a Tuesday statement to NBC News, xAI maintained its legal compliance. “We take our environmental and community responsibilities with utmost seriousness,” an xAI representative declared. “The temporary power generation units operate in full accordance with applicable regulations.”

The Southern Environmental Law Center, which is preparing legal proceedings against xAI, contends that the company required permits before installing the turbines. However, local authorities—including the county health department, mayor, and chamber of commerce—maintain that permits are unnecessary during the turbines’ initial year of operation.

According to reports, the company’s Memphis operations involve substantial financial commitments, including projected annual property tax payments of £30 million, alongside investments of £35 million for a new power substation to eventually replace the turbines, and £80 million for water recycling facilities.

Nevertheless, despite these significant financial investments, residents and specialists express concern that such computing centres and data facilities are misaligned with national efforts to transition towards clean energy and address climate and environmental challenges linked to pollution.

Clean energy advocates argue that increasing electricity demands from technology companies and data centres are extending America’s reliance on polluting energy sources. Across the country, at least 17 fossil fuel generators scheduled for decommissioning face delays or potential delays, while roughly 20 new fossil fuel projects are being developed to meet surging data centre energy requirements.

“Elon Musk’s xAI joins numerous other polluters degrading Memphis’s air quality,” remarked KeShaun Pearson, who leads Memphis Community Against Pollution. It is “perilous to allow a self-styled tech autocrat to determine the quality of air we breathe.”

State Representative Justin J. Pearson, KeShaun Pearson’s sibling and the area’s elected representative, drew parallels between the current struggle and the biblical narrative of David versus Goliath.

“We’re like David in this confrontation,” he remarked. “But being David is perfectly acceptable, as we’re well aware of how that tale concludes.”

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See also this SAMSO article. https://samso.africa/climate-change-and-poverty-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/

Climate Change and Poverty: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Author: Trevor Davies