The NAACP is asking local officials to stop operations in Colossus, the installation of “supercomputer” operated by XAI of Elon Musk in South Memphis.
As reported in NBC NewsLeaders of the Civil Rights Group sent a letter on Thursday The Shelby County Department of County and Memphis Light Gas and Water criticizing the “Lackadaisical approach to organizations for the operation of this dirty data center” and asks them to “issue an emergency order so that XAI stops operations completely”, or if there is no order, at least quote and prevent the company from violating the clean air laws.
The letter expressed particular concerns around the gas turbines that Xai runs to light colossus. The company has requested permission to Continue operating 15 gas turbines In the installation, although the NAACP said that the authorities “have allowed Xai to operate at least 35 gas turbines without any permission” during the past year. City officials have said that XAI did not need permits for the first year of turbines.
These turbines As reported, emit in dangerous air pollutantsincluding formaldehyde, at levels higher to the limits of the EPA. The NAACP letter also pointed out nitrogen-oxide nitrogen emissions from turbines.
Noting that Colossus’s installation is located near the Boxphown neighborhood of South Memphis, which the letter described as a “historically black community,” the NAACP said that the location perpetuates “the trend of industries that add contamination to communities that do not cause the problem.”
“Rather [the Shelby County Health Department] Working to reduce known health problems in the area, including that the cancer risks are already four times the national average, has allowed Xai to operate above the law, ”added the NAACP.
The NAACP letter is aimed at the director of the Shelby County Department of Health, Michelle Taylor, as well as the Memphis Light Gas and Water commissioners; Taylor is Leaving his role In Shelby County will become the commissioner of the Health Department of the City of Baltimore.
Techcrunch has communicated with the NAACP and XAI to comment. A Memphis Light Gas and Water spokesman told NBC News that he had not yet received the Naacp letter.