Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI plans to proceed utilizing 15 gasoline generators to energy its “Colossus” supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, in response to an working allow with the Shelby County Health Department for continuous turbine use from June 2025 to June 2030.
Why does it matter? The Commercial Appeal, a information outlet that obtained the paperwork, observes that environmental considerations have emerged, because the 20-year-old generators emit hazardous air pollution (HAP), together with formaldehyde, at ranges exceeding the EPA’s 10-ton annual cap for a single supply. (Per the story, the ability’s working allow self-reports that the generators every emit 11.51 tons of HAP per yr.)
The generators have already been working since summer season 2024 with out public discover or oversight, says Eric Hilt, a spokesperson with Southern Environmental Law Center, the big environmental nonprofit group, and the permits don’t account for these emissions.
“It’s another example of the company not being transparent with the community or with local leaders,” Hilt tells The Commercial Appeal.
The well being division tells the outlet the permits haven’t but been permitted, and there may be “no set timeline for approval.”
