The Trump administration is trying to help Elon Musk’s xAI Corp to defeat a Clean Air Act lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The US said the NAACP lawsuit threatens the xAI data center that powers the Grok systems needed by the military.
NAACP sued xAI and subsidiary MZX Tech alleged in April that they violated the Clean Air Act by operating 27 gas turbines without air permits in Southaven, Mississippi. The number of unpermitted turbines had risen to 57 by mid-May, and two more were slated to be installed, the NAACP said in a report. June 12 application.
“Defendants’ Colossus Gas Plant powers xAI’s nearby Colossus 2 data center, which in turn powers the Grok chatbot,” the lawsuit states. Gas turbines cause health problems as well noise complaints.
Attorneys for the US Department of Justice urged a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit giving yesterday. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality determined that the turbines did not require a permit, U.S. documents said.
The lawsuit “threatens artificial intelligence innovation and the energy needed to power it,” the US filing said. “The NAACP’s attempt to cut Grok’s support force also threatens national security because … Grok provides critical support to the War Department’s military operations.” A US court said that xAI’s Grok Gov Model helped carry out targeted strikes in Iran during Operation Epic Rage.
Together with the Grok Maven Smart System, it was used to help US forces “deploy more than 2,000 munitions to 2,000 different targets over 96 hours during Operation Epic Fury, a testament to the high operational efficiency possible with the Grok Gov Model.” declaration By Cameron Stanley, chief digital and artificial intelligence officer at the War Department. Grok wrote that the Gov Model has unique features that no other AI model has.
The group says the US is helping xAI break the law
The US claims that “xAI should be allowed to break the law just because the Trump administration says so.” he said Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), which represented the NAACP in the case.
