SpaceX AI division SpaceXAI has lost its bid to dismiss an NAACP lawsuit, which is pending in federal court in Mississippi, according to a judge’s opinion released Friday evening.
The lawsuit claims the AI division of CEO Elon Musk’s aerospace and defense technology conglomerate violated the Clean Air Act by using gas combustion turbines to power its massive AI data centers in Greater Memphis.
The Colossus data centers and a power plant that SpaceXAI is also building in Southaven, Mississippi, have faced community backlash for years.
The Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice filed suit on behalf of the NAACP in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in April 2026.
The suit alleges that between August and December 2025, xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech installed and operated 27 gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, “without air permits or regard for the health and safety of people living nearby.”
(SpaceXAI is owned and operated by SpaceX, which renamed it SpaceXAI or SpaceXSI.)
Turbines emit smog-forming pollutants and particulate matter that can increase health risks and cause an unpleasant odor, among other undesirable impacts, according to the suit.
SpaceXAI’s lawyers argued in their motion to dismiss, filed in June, that the NAACP’s suit should be dropped because the company’s use of the turbines, which it called “mobile,” was exempt from permitting requirements. They also argued that the NAACP did not have the right to sue under the federal Clean Air Act and that lawsuits by such community groups were unconstitutional.
The judge presiding over the case rejected these arguments, writing: “Because plaintiffs have legal standing under the Clean Air Act, because combustion turbines are not ‘mobile sources’ within the meaning of Mississippi’s SIP, and because the citizen suit provision does not violate Article II of the Constitution or the private nondelegation doctrine, plaintiffs’ claims will be pursued.”
The ruling comes about two weeks after the same court rejected a request from the Justice Department to end proceedings against Musk’s company.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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