Loud Turbines, Louder Backlash: Musk's AI Data Centers Clash with a Mississippi Community

Southaven, Mississippi residents are pushing back against 27 methane gas turbines powering Elon Musk's xAI data center, installed with limited permitting and sparking a February hearing attended by about 300 people. Despite a $7 million sound wall, critics say the turbines create disruptive noise and raise environmental concerns, with lawsuits under the Clean Air Act threatened by the Southern Environmental Law Centre and Earthjustice on behalf of the NAACP. Emissions from the Memphis/Southaven facilities could exceed 6 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually and release more than 1,300 tonnes of health-damaging pollutants, raising worries about air quality and water supply impacts amid broader backlash to AI data centers across the U.S.