Court rejects SpaceX's bid to dismiss the case

SpaceXSI's data center Colossus2 [Yonhap]
SpaceXSI's data center Colossus2 [Yonhap]

A US court has rejected Elon Musk's SpaceX request to dismiss a lawsuit alleging violations of environmental law.

Judge Debra M. Brown of the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi ruled Saturday (local time) that a Clean Air Act lawsuit filed by the NAACP against SpaceXSI — SpaceX's AI subsidiary — and others must proceed.

SpaceXSI is the AI subsidiary of SpaceX led by Elon Musk, formerly known as SpaceXAI.

In the ruling, the court said "the plaintiffs have standing under the Clean Air Act and that the citizen suit provision does not violate the Constitution."

SpaceXSI built a large-scale data center called Colossus2 in Memphis, Tennessee, to train its AI model Grok. To power the facility, the company set up natural gas turbine generators in Southaven, Mississippi, about 1.6 kilometers away. The turbines were installed and brought online between August and December last year, but questions arose over whether the company had obtained the proper air quality permits during that process.

The NAACP and environmental groups argued that dozens of gas turbines continuously generating power at a single location constituted a "stationary power plant." SpaceXSI rebuffed that characterization, saying the trailer-mounted units were mobile equipment and therefore "temporary generation facilities" exempt from permitting requirements. The court rejected SpaceXSI's argument in its ruling.

SpaceXSI is now building a third data center in a building it purchased just across the state line in Mississippi — administratively outside Tennessee — after residents near the Memphis data center raised objections over air pollution and other concerns.


park.jiyeong@heraldcorp.com