A judge let the NAACP's pollution suit against Musk's xAI go forward

A federal judge in Mississippi on October 30 denied xAI's motion to dismiss the NAACP's Clean Air Act lawsuit over the gas turbines powering its Colossus 2 data center, so the case now proceeds — the second dismissal bid to fail this month, after the court also rejected the Justice Department's attempt to end it.

The court rejected xAI's arguments that citizen suits are unconstitutional and that its turbines count as exempt “mobile sources,” holding that the Southaven plant was not exempt from permitting requirements; the suit, filed in April, alleges dozens of turbines ran without an air permit.

The ruling decides nothing about whether xAI broke the law, and a preliminary-injunction motion is still pending; the plaintiffs say the turbines can emit more than 5,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides a year, while the company has separately been buying nearby homes on condition owners do not sue.