A federal judge has rejected Donald Trump's argument that the Environmental Protection Agency holds unilateral authority to dismiss Clean Air Act lawsuits. This ruling keeps a pollution case against Elon Musk's SpaceXAI alive in Memphis, Tennessee.
The lawsuit was filed by the NAACP after unpermitted gas turbines were discovered powering the Colossus data center. The group seeks an injunction requiring xAI, now known as SpaceXAI following a merger, to utilize the best available pollution control technology for its turbines. The NAACP also requests civil penalties of up to $124,426 per day for each violation. The organization argued that without these remedies, the turbines risk causing drastic pollution spikes in nearby neighborhoods that house predominantly Black communities.
Trump attempted to intervene in the case by asserting that the EPA could dismiss any lawsuit if the president decided against enforcing the Clean Air Act. He contended that it would not serve the public interest to allow citizens to seek massive civil penalties against AI firms. According to Trump, these companies are working to get data centers operational as quickly as possible to support his AI Action Plan. The court did not accept this interpretation of executive power over environmental litigation.