Air quality tests around xAI’s Memphis data center raise questions

Elon Musk’s xAI is the subject of scrutiny in Memphis, where natural gas turbines powering its Colossus data center have raised alarm among residents concerned about air pollution.

On Tuesday, the City of Memphis released the results of initial air quality testing performed by a third party, saying that levels of the 10 pollutants tested were not dangerous. But the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), which is threatening to sue xAI on behalf of the NAACP, said that the tests omitted a key pollutant, ozone, also known as smog.

“It’s unclear why the city would not test for this harmful pollutant,” SELC said in a statement.

The testing was carried out on June 13 and 16 at three locations: downtown Memphis, the Whitehaven neighborhood, and the Boxtown neighborhood. The closest site, Boxtown, is two miles east-southeast of xAI. The sampling equipment ran for between ten to 13 hours.

On the testing dates, the winds were unlikely to carry pollutants to the sites. On June 13, winds in Memphis were out of the south and southwest. On June 16, they were out of the south. The only location northwest of xAI is downtown. 

Formaldehyde was detected there, though it was within the expected range for an urban area. City Hall, where the sampling took place, is just over eight miles from the xAI data center.

The SELC took issue with the way the testing was conducted. In addition to omitting ozone, the testing company placed the monitors in Boxtown and Whitehaven directly against buildings, which can interfere with results. 

The EPA recommends that air sensors should be “at least six feet above ground level, rooftop, or other objects and away from obstructions, vegetation, or emissions sources that would interfere with the measurement.”