SOUTH HAVEN, Miss. — For the past three years, Devan Jenkins has watched industrial growth replace the trees around his family home.
Just in front of her property along the Mississippi-Tennessee border stands a tangle of giant power lines, an extension of the electrical grid operated by Memphis Light, Gas and Water.
At the end of the street, a few hundred yards from her bedroom, stretches Colossus 2, the second data center built by Elon Musk’s company xAI to power his systems. controversial A.I. chatbot, Grok.
And less than two miles across the state line in South Haven, Mississippi, there is an xAI-owned energy plant with more than 20 towering gas turbines.
The arrival of the turbines last summer disrupted daily life on Jenkins’ property, allowing drones to invade through walls and windows and continue to penetrate deeper into the home she shares with her grandparents. She explained that the sounds continue throughout the day and often get louder at night, making it difficult to think clearly and even harder to fall asleep.
“You can feel your eardrums rattling,” Jenkins said. “It makes me feel like I’m going crazy.”
Jenkins is one of many local residents who oppose xAI’s growing presence in their backyards and are concerned about the impact its operations will have on residents’ health and the surrounding environment. in A public hearing was held in Southaven last month.hundreds of community members and allies condemned the company’s actions, accusing it of violating federal law and recklessly endangering public safety.
The hearing centered on a then-proposed permit that would have allowed xAI’s subsidiary to install more than 40 permanent gas turbines at its factories. south haven factory. These machines will replace 27 temporary turbines that have been operating without permission for much of the year.
The plan drew unanimous opposition at a public hearing in South Haven, but some residents were concerned that xAI would still become widespread.
Angie Davis gives a statement during a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality public hearing on February 17, 2026 in South Haven, Mississippi. Her daughter and granddaughter live near an energy facility acquired by xAI and are concerned that having a permanent gas turbine installed at the facility could put their health at risk. (Mississippi Free Press/Illan Ireland)
“I feel like we’ve been completely thrown under the bus,” said Angie Davis, a former choir director who moved to Southaven from Memphis 30 years ago. Her daughter and granddaughter live in the neighborhood next to the unlicensed gas turbine and believe in the location of the engine and xAI. Widespread infiltration of South Haven — It wasn’t a coincidence.
“I don’t think this would have happened if there were forces that thought we could fight back.”
common patterns
xAI’s work in Memphis and subsequent expansion into Mississippi controversy continuesalso by data center standards. To get its first data center, Colossus 1, up and running as quickly as possible, the company relied on unlicensed combustion turbines powered by methane gas, installing as many as 35 machines. in the Boxtown neighborhood of Memphis..
movement Provoking widespread backlash and sustained protests from residents,xAI We got permits for some of those turbines last summer..
xAI installed up to 27 unauthorized turbines at a facility near South Haven, following the same blueprint as Colossus 2 in Memphis’ Whitehaven neighborhood. Use them to meet data center energy needs While construction is underway. The company is Southaven’s third data center It is not yet clear how the facility will be powered, although it is expected to occur in the coming months.
In addition to being noisy, methane gas turbines emit a variety of harmful air pollutants, including: highly reactive gases known as nitrogen oxides It can cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. They also emit particulate matter. Airborne particles and droplets found to worsen asthma and other chronic diseases — and formaldehydea known carcinogen.
Despite these public health risks, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality has authorized xAI to: Surrender the turbine permit The South Haven plant argued that state permitting requirements exempt turbines classified as “temporary mobile” engines for up to a year. Critics argue that the lack of a permit means xAI is free to operate its machines without setting emissions limits or pollution regulations from August 2025 onwards.
“(xAI) has a long and sordid history of operating temporary turbines long before permits were granted,” said Charlie Park, a resident of the area and a member of the group. Local coalition against xAI plant“They did it in Memphis, and predictably they did it again in South Haven,” he said during a Feb. 17 hearing.
On January 15th, the Environmental Protection Agency Latest pollution prevention standards In the case of gas turbines based on the Clean Air Act (including statements from environmental organizations) Affirm that permits are required for temporary gas turbines. The groups argue that this update puts xAI’s Southaven turbines in violation of federal law and opens the door to legal challenges like this one. announced Announced by the NAACP on February 13th.
“Federal law supersedes state law,” Latricea Adams, founder and president of the nonprofit Young Gifted and Green, said at the Feb. 17 hearing. “The Clean Air Act is not voluntary, but somehow xAI is still actively violating the law.”
xAI did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
xAI continues to build out its second Memphis data center, Colossus 2, which will power the controversial AI chatbot Grok. To meet the facility’s energy needs, xAI applied for a permit to install 41 permanent gas turbines across the state line in South Haven, Mississippi. (Mississippi Free Press/Illan Ireland)
Meanwhile, MDEQ argues that EPA’s new standards do not explicitly impose permitting requirements on temporary turbines like the one in South Haven. That decision remains up to state officials, officials explained.
“There are federal regulations that absolutely require (pollution) sources to have an air permit,” Jarikas Whitlock, head of MDEQ’s aviation division, said in an interview last month. “I have not seen any language like that in this new turbine rule.”
New permission, same power
To provide long-term power for the Colossus 2 data center, xAI applied for a state permit last summer that would allow it to install 41 permanent gas turbines at its South Haven facility. This installation will create a “behind-the-meter” power plant with a power generation capacity of approximately 1.2 gigawatts, more than half of the total. Hoover Dam maximum output.
Because emissions at the site exceed certain regulatory standards, xAI’s plants Subject to some requirements of the Clean Air Actincluding equipping turbines with various control technologies to suppress harmful emissions.
Plant operators must also perform an analysis showing that the facility’s emissions do not cause or contribute to violations of ambient air standards.
“Adherence to the operational limitations and compliance assurance mechanisms for emission limits built into the permit will ensure that the proposed facility complies with all applicable Mississippi and federal environmental laws, regulations, and air quality standards,” MDEQ’s Jarikas Whitlock said during a public hearing in South Haven.
However, prior to that hearing, the Southern Environmental Law Center released the following report: independent research It shows the widespread public health harm caused by xAI’s proposed power generation facility.
The study, led by researchers at Harvard University, found that adding 41 permanent turbines to an xAI site Dramatically increases particulate pollution Located in the Memphis metro area. Researchers estimate that this surge could cost up to an estimated $44 million a year in health costs due to factors such as premature deaths, hospital visits, and lost productivity.
Exposure will be most significant in the South Memphis area. Already suffering from a chronic illness.
“This is a clear case of environmental racism,” said Tennessee Representative Justin J. Pearson, whose district covers part of the area. “Communities that have been historically polluted are always polluted by new entrants and new companies. That’s the strategy they follow.”
At the South Haven hearing, participants warned that the turbines requested by xAI would add hundreds of tons of pollution per year to an area already suffering from poor air quality. Last year, DeSoto County, Mississippi, and Shelby County, Tennessee, both received an “F” rating from the American Lung Association. because of ozone pollutionThe turbines will introduce new pollutants on both sides of the state border, residents said.
February 18, 2026: A covered fence surrounds xAI’s recently acquired energy plant in South Haven, Mississippi. The company reportedly operates 27 unlicensed gas turbines at the facility to power its Colossus 2 data center across state lines. (Mississippi Free Press/Illan Ireland)
“Bottom line: This is an unprecedented amount of air pollution, and it’s scary,” said Lauren Vann, who lives in Walls, Mississippi, a few miles from the xAI power plant. “We all breathe the same air. Pollution is not just a problem in South Haven.”
Other participants warned that this permit would have a lasting impact on public health, noting that families are already feeling the effects of unauthorized turbines on the property.
“It’s harder than ever to breathe. This is not an inconvenience. This is a health crisis in my own home,” said Chestella Farmer, a South Haven resident and mother who lives next door to the xAI factory. “Parents shouldn’t see their child having trouble breathing and worry that the surrounding air is the cause.”
As xAI continues to operate temporary turbines and expand its footprint in South Haven, attendees at the hearing urged regulators to prioritize people over industry and avoid introducing further pollution into the region.
“South Haven residents are not collateral damage,” said South Haven resident and medical professional Rodney Paulus. “We are not expendable.”
Turbine wins approval
Those who worried that xAI’s demands would be heeded were right. Just three weeks after a public meeting in South Haven, the Mississippi Regulatory Commission approved the permit unanimouslyThis paved the way for the company to begin adding permanent turbines to its local plant.
The approval caused “absolute fear” in resident Shannon Samsa, who said the decision was a turning point for Southaven and neighboring communities.
“For us, this is not just another permit application,” Samsa told the Mississippi Board of Regents shortly before the decision was announced. “It’s our home, it’s our health, it’s our community, it’s our whole life.”
Samsa said South Haven residents are currently considering legal action to address noise and air pollution from the xAI plant. She has lost hope that state authorities will impose stricter restrictions on the location and protect the community from further damage.
“All the systems and people that are supposed to protect us are failing,” she concluded. “It’s clear that[xAI and its executives]think they’re invincible and are just going to do what they want. The results are abhorrent.”
This story is Mississippi River Basin Agriculture and Water Deskan independent reporting network based in . University of Missouri In partnership with Report for Americais generously funded by the Walton Family Foundation.
