SpaceX’s artificial intelligence division, SpaceXAI, lost its attempt to dismiss an NAACP lawsuit, which is pending in federal court in Mississippi, according to a judge’s opinion released Friday night. The lawsuit claims that the AI division of CEO Elon Musk’s aerospace and defense technology conglomerate violated the Clean Air Act with the use of gas-powered combustion turbines to power its massive AI data centers in Greater Memphis. The Colossus data centers and a power plant SpaceXAI is also building in Southaven, Mississippi, have faced community backlash for years. The Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of the NAACP in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in April 2026. The lawsuit alleges that between August and December 2025, xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech installed and operated 27 gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, “without an air permit.” or respect for the health and safety of people living nearby.” (SpaceXAI is owned and operated by SpaceX, which has rebranded it as SpaceXAI or SpaceXSI.) The turbines emit pollutants that form smog and particles that can increase health risks and cause an unpleasant odor, among other unwanted impacts, according to the lawsuit. SpaceXAI’s attorneys argued in their motion to dismiss, filed in June, that the NAACP lawsuit should be dismissed because the company’s use of the turbines, which it characterized as “mobile,” was exempt from permitting requirements. They also argued that the NAACP had no standing to sue under the federal Clean Air Act, and that the lawsuits by such community groups were unconstitutional. The judge presiding over the case rejected those arguments, writing: “Because the plaintiffs have standing under the Clean Air Act, because combustion turbines are not. ‘mobile sources’ according to the Mississippi SIP, and because the citizen suit provision does not violate Article II of the Constitution or the private non-delegation doctrine, the plaintiffs’ claims will proceed.” The decision comes about two weeks after the same court rejected a request from the Justice Department to end the case against Musk’s company. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
