House Democrat is demanding Elon Musk explain pollution from his AI data centers

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Elon Musk on Wednesday demanding information about pollution produced by xAI's Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 data centers in Tennessee and Mississippi.

The letter requests a list of all turbines used to power either facility, along with emissions and permitting details, all communications between xAI employees and state, local, and federal officials — including the White House — and analyses of the sites' emissions, power consumption, and water usage. Pallone also said his staff would contact xAI to arrange a visit to both sites. Pallone accused SpaceX, which owns xAI, of showing "disregard for the health and well-being of local communities," the letter said.

The Colossus 1 data center in Shelby County, Tennessee, is powered by 35 gas turbines, making it the third-largest source of ozone-causing pollution in the county — ahead of a nearby refinery and power plant — without any air permits, in violation of the Clean Air Act, according to the letter. Five miles away in Mississippi, xAI has installed at least 60 additional gas turbines for Colossus 2, also without air permits. One analysis cited in the letter found those turbines represent the largest source of pollution in the Memphis area — five times as polluting as the next largest source, the Memphis airport — and the largest emitter of nitrogen oxide across Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

The letter follows a meeting last month in which xAI representatives were, according to Pallone's office, the least forthcoming of any company that met with committee staff over the past four months on AI data center energy use and environmental impacts. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that xAI brought 59 natural gas turbines online for Colossus 2 without obtaining the requisite federal clean-air permits, with the outlet's reporting also revealing that the turbines sit in neighborhoods that are predominantly Black and that their projected emissions cross thresholds that would ordinarily trigger a federal permitting requirement. Reuters noted that SpaceX had not provided any comment in response to its inquiry.

The Colossus 2 facility has faced mounting legal pressure. The NAACP filed a Clean Air Act lawsuit in April alleging that xAI erected turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, without the required pollution permits, exposing nearby residents — disproportionately Black — to harmful emissions. The Justice Department moved to intervene and dismiss that suit, arguing it posed a threat to national security.

Separately, three Mississippi residents filed a class-action lawsuit against xAI and SpaceX alleging that noise from the Southaven facility had harmed their health and reduced property values. "The Trump Administration has essentially claimed that it alone decides whether SpaceXAI and other companies get a free pass to pollute unimpeded," Pallone wrote. "But just because the Trump Administration will bend over backward to give tech companies free rein over community air, water, and land does not make your actions legal."