xAI’s unpermitted turbines will continue running near Memphis until at least July 2027, SpaceX confirmed, as the company phases toward a permanent 1.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant that still requires construction and permitting. The announcement extends a legal and environmental dispute that has dogged the Colossus data centre operation since its launch, and which now involves the Department of Justice, a federal civil rights lawsuit, and a community that has endured more than a year of protests.
The Fight Over xAI Unpermitted Turbines
SpaceX says it is currently operating 69 gas turbines to power its Colossus facilities, located just over the Mississippi border south of Memphis in one of the most polluted regions in the United States. The company argues the turbines do not require permits because they remain on the trailers they arrived on. Federal regulators disagree: the turbines, whatever they sit on, require permits because of their size and the manner of their use.
The region’s air quality makes the dispute more than procedural. The turbines carry the potential to emit more than 2,000 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides per year.
The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) sued xAI over the issue, asking a federal court for the Northern District of Mississippi to declare a Clean Air Act violation, force xAI to stop running the unpermitted units, mandate installation of the best available control technology, and impose financial penalties for each day of the alleged violation, according to the SELC.
Rather than halting operations, xAI added six more turbines to its Southaven plant after receiving formal notice that the existing fleet violated federal law, according to the NAACP’s emergency injunction motion. The group is now asking the court for emergency relief. Earthjustice reports that 59 of the turbines at the Southaven site powering the Colossus 2 data centre are operating without permits.
The pattern at Colossus 2 echoes what happened at Colossus 1. After SELC sent xAI a notice of intent to sue over unpermitted turbines at that earlier facility, xAI removed some units and obtained permits for the 15 that remained, according to SELC’s own account of the episode.
A Permit Board Vote, a White House Meeting, and a DOJ Intervention
The Trump administration has weighed in on SpaceX’s side. Last month the Department of Justice moved to dismiss the NAACP lawsuit, arguing the unpermitted turbines were a matter of ‘national, economic, and energy security,’ as CNBC reported.
Mississippi regulators have also moved to accommodate the expansion. On 10 March 2026, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s permit board unanimously approved a construction permit allowing xAI affiliate MZX Tech to install 41 methane gas-fired turbines at the Southaven plant, which will replace 27 unpermitted turbines currently powering Colossus 2, according to the Mississippi Free Press. The vote came one week after the Southaven project was discussed at the White House.
Opponents argued at the permit hearing that xAI had understated pollution in its application, raising specific concerns about nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde, and airborne particulate matter, and that the draft permit failed to account for emissions from the unpermitted turbines already running at the site.
The new permanent plant will use 41 turbines ranging from 16.48 megawatts to 50 megawatts each, according to Mississippi permit documents.
What SpaceX’s IPO Filing Reveals About the Turbine Bill
SpaceX completed its acquisition of xAI in February at a combined valuation of $1.25 trillion, according to The Next Web’s reporting on the SpaceX IPO prospectus. The same filing disclosed plans to spend $2.8 billion on gas turbines across the next three years, with AI infrastructure expansion listed as an explicit use of proceeds.
That $2.8 billion figure breaks down into two disclosed agreements. A March deal covers turbines through 2029: Wired puts that contract at $805 million, while Gizmodo, also citing the S-1 filing, reports the figure as approximately $925 million; the two publications differ on the reading and the matter has not been resolved by an issuer clarification. A second, late-April agreement covers approximately $2 billion worth of mobile gas turbines and related equipment from an unnamed vendor, and remains pending.
Earlier this year Elon Musk bought APR Energy, a specialist in temporary natural gas power. The turbines in APR’s fleet appear to differ from those approved for the new permanent Colossus plant, suggesting the newly acquired fleet is earmarked for a separate, as-yet-unannounced project.
The legal question reaches its next inflection point in federal court, where the NAACP’s emergency injunction motion is pending. If granted, it could force xAI to halt operations before the July 2027 removal timeline SpaceX has set for itself.
