A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration's attempt to dismiss a Clean Air Act lawsuit against Elon Musk's AI company, SpaceXAI, over alleged pollution from unpermitted gas turbines at its Colossus data center in Memphis, Tennessee. The NAACP filed the suit, seeking an injunction requiring the company to use best available pollution control technology and penalties up to $124,426 per day per violation.
The Trump EPA argued it could unilaterally dismiss any citizen suit when the president decides enforcement is not in the public interest. Judge Debra Brown disagreed, ruling that "nothing" in the Clean Air Act allows the EPA administrator to do so. She noted that Congress considered such a power in 1990 but did not adopt it, and that the law even allows citizens to sue the EPA for failing to enforce the act.
The ruling is a setback for the administration's efforts to shield AI data centers from pollution liability as demand for gas turbines surges. Earthjustice, which supports the NAACP, called the EPA's position "unprecedented and alarming" and said it would continue to hold SpaceXAI accountable. The case is being watched as a test of whether communities can challenge AI infrastructure pollution.