This video from More Perfect Union explains how xAI rapidly constructed the world's largest supercomputer in Memphis, a town already exposed to air pollution.
Guest Blog | June 6, 2025 | Energy Justice, Fossil Gas, TennesseeWhat’s really happening at Elon Musk’s xAI facility in Memphis? This in-depth video investigation from More Perfect Union breaks it down. With sharp reporting and firsthand accounts from community members, legal experts, and environmental advocates, the video uncovers how xAI rapidly constructed the world’s largest supercomputer, powered by dozens of unpermitted gas turbines, just miles from neighborhoods already burdened by toxic air.
xAI’s “Colossus” project is burning enough methane gas to power a small city, without pollution controls or federal permits, raising serious concerns about public health. The video covers:
- The secretive approval process and lack of community input
- The use of 35 gas turbines—33 of which were documented to be actively running
- Potential violations of the Clean Air Act
- The health effects on nearby residents
- Federal and local regulators’ inaction
- xAI’s plans to expand with even more turbines
Memphians deserve better than the pollution, secrecy, and dishonesty they are getting from xAI and some community leaders. Memphis residents have suffered environmental harms from fossil fuel facilities–coal, oil, and methane gas–for generations. Memphians are owed environmental justice, but instead, xAI’s hasty and reckless methane gas facility just pours more fuel on the fire.