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EPA: Elon's methane-powered xAI datacenter illegally generating electricity [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2026-01-19  

The Environmental Protection Agency found that the xAI datacenter in Tennessee is illegally using its methane gas turbines to generate electricity. The generators are not exempt from rules on air quality because they are "portable" or "temporary", it declared Thursday, and federal law applies over the local loophole exploited by Elon Musk's AI company.

When xAI first installed the portable turbines at Colossus 1, it took advantage of a local county loophole allowing the operation of generators without permits so long as the machines did not sit in one place for more than 364 days. At one point, up to 35 of these generators were powering Colossus 1. xAI eventually received permits for 15 turbines at Colossus 1 and is now operating 12 permitted machines at the site. Under the EPA's new ruling, the permitting for these turbines would fall under federal law. It is unclear how or whether the government will penalize companies who are not in compliance. The EPA spokesperson did not respond to the Guardian's questions about enforcement.

The turbines harm air quality and increase the risk of cancer, asthma and respiratory diseases. The neighborhood is historically poor and black; targeting such communities is a longtime strategy for heavy industry and the energy sector looking for places to site polluting or otherwise risky facilities without facing significant local opposition. But in this case they found just that, and then some. Here's Abre' Conner, the director of environmental and climate justice for the NAACP, which filed a lawsuit against xAI last July claiming its unpermitted turbines violated the Clean Air Act.

"Our communities, air, water and land are not playgrounds for billionaires chasing another buck," Conner said.

The datacenter supercomputer was built in 122 days in a former Electrolux factory in Memphis abandoned in 2019 and sold for $35m in 2023.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2026/01/19/epa-elons-methane-powered-xai-datacenter-illegally-generating-electricity.html

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