{"id":631,"date":"2026-06-18T11:36:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=631"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:36:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:36:48","slug":"trumps-justice-department-backs-elon-musk-in-data-center-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=631","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Justice Department Backs Elon Musk in Data Center Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Donald<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This story was originally published b<\/em>y\u00a0the<\/em>\u00a0Guardian\u00a0and\u00a0is reproduced here as part of the\u00a0<\/em>Climate Desk\u00a0collaboration.<\/em><\/p>

Read more College Grads Are Rejecting AI En Masse<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Trump administration\u00a0<\/span>is coming to the defense of Elon Musk in a lawsuit over claims that his artificial intelligence company, xAI, is polluting residential neighborhoods in north Mississippi. The Department of Justice (DOJ) told a federal court late on Monday to throw out the case.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was\u00a0filed by the NAACP in April\u00a0over allegations that xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech set up dozens of methane-gas turbines to power its data center in Southaven, Mississippi, without air permits. The suit claims these turbines emit toxic pollutants in violation of the Clean Air Act, and is asking a judge to block xAI from operating the machines.<\/p>\n

The DOJ says this data center is being used to train and develop AI models that are \u201ccritical to the economy and the Department of War\u201d and the turbines are necessary to power the facility. In a\u00a033-page memo filed\u00a0in Mississippi federal court, the government also claims that under the Clean Air Act, it can terminate such \u201ccitizen lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Justice will not sit idly by while private organizations use environmental laws to undermine our national security,\u201d said Adam Gustafson, a deputy assistant attorney general for the justice department\u2019s environment and natural resources division.<\/p>\n

xAI\u2019s central focus is a chatbot called Grok, which is similar to ChatGPT but has been known for controversy including\u00a0nonconsensual deepfakes,\u00a0sexualized images of woman and minors, and\u00a0referring to itself as \u201cMechaHitler.\u201d The Justice Department wrote in its filing that Grok\u2019s continued availability was \u201cparamount\u201d to national security and the military version of the chatbot had assisted US forces \u201cto deploy over 2,000 munitions to 2,000 distinct targets within 96 hours\u201d in the war against Iran.<\/p>\n

xAI\u2019s parent company, SpaceX, had the\u00a0largest initial public offering in history\u00a0last week valuing it at more than $2 trillion. The IPO also minted Musk as the world\u2019s first trillionaire. In recent weeks, xAI entered partnerships with Google and Anthropic to rent space in its data centers for billions of dollars annually.<\/p>

Read more Billionaires Know Just How They Want Supreme Court Justices to Rule\u2014and Are Spending Big to Tell Them<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawyers representing the NAACP said affected communities had long had the right to file suits against polluters and that the justice department cannot simply quash those cases. They added that all companies, even those contracting with the federal government, must follow environmental laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no moral or legal precedent for this,\u201d said Laura Thoms, the director of enforcement for Earthjustice, which is representing the NAACP along with the Southern Environmental Law Center. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about national security; it\u2019s a desperate attempt to protect wealthy tech companies from obeying the laws meant to protect people from pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n

xAI has two data centers in the region, nicknamed \u201cColossus 1\u201d and \u201cColossus 2.\u201d They are massive facilities, with the latter occupying 1 million square feet in Southaven. Colossus 1 is located in Memphis and a few miles from historically Black neighborhoods that have long dealt with harmful pollution. Both data centers have been subject to community backlash and protests.<\/p>\n

The NAACP alleges that xAI has illegally installed and is operating 57 gas turbines at its Southaven facility\u2014each one the size of a large bus. The group claims the data center has the capacity to emit more than 5,000 tons of harmful nitrogen oxides per year, along with fine particulate matter and toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, making it one of the top polluters in the region. These pollutants are tied to an increase in asthma, heart disease, respiratory illnesses, and cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaws like the Clean Air Act are a bedrock insurance policy for communities to hold polluters accountable for decisions that cause them harm,\u201d said Abre\u2019 Conner, the director of environmental and climate justice for the NAACP. \u201cThis should not be up for debate.\u201d<\/p>

Read more The Iran War Isn\u2019t Ending Any Time Soon<\/a><\/p>\n

xAI did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DOJ urges judge to throw NAACP\u2019s legal action over xAI\u2019s gas turbines in Mississippi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s Justice Department Backs Elon Musk in Data Center Lawsuit - Moving and Mortgage Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=631\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s Justice Department Backs Elon Musk in Data Center Lawsuit - Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DOJ urges judge to throw NAACP\u2019s legal action over xAI\u2019s gas turbines in Mississippi.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=631\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving and Mortgage Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T11:36:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/f703759081bfdbd02cffdbcbb5ad8b0b.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1124\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=631#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=631\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6b7c79bcfd888d98f34c5413df7e81a2\"},\"headline\":\"Trump\u2019s Justice Department Backs Elon Musk in Data Center Lawsuit\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T11:36:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=631\"},\"wordCount\":693,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=631#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c565509952e71bea566df52a3c4c0f6d.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=631#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=631\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movingandmortgagehub.com\\\/?p=631\",\"name\":\"Trump\u2019s Justice Department Backs Elon Musk in Data Center Lawsuit - 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