Elon Musk’s xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, regulator rules
A US regulator ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company had acted illegally by using dozens of methane gas turbines to power huge datacenters in Tennessee.xAI has been fighting for a year and a half over truck-sized gas turbines the company had parked near its Colossus 1 and 2 facilities, arguing to local authorities that the electricity-generating turbines were exempt from requirements for air quality permits.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared on Thursday that the generators were not exempt.In its ruling, the agency revised the policies around gas turbines, saying that operating the machines still requires air permits even if they are used on a portable or temporary basis, as had been the case.When xAI first installed the portable turbines at Colossus 1, it took advantage of a local county loophole allowing the operation of generators without permits so long as the machines did not sit in one place for more than 364 days.
At one point, up to 35 of these generators were powering Colossus 1,xAI eventually received permits for 15 turbines at Colossus 1 and is now operating 12 permitted machines at the site,Under the EPA’s new ruling, the permitting for these turbines would fall under federal law,It is unclear how or whether the government will penalize companies who are not in compliance,The EPA spokesperson did not respond to the Guardian’s questions about enforcement.
The ruling is a win for community activists in Memphis who have been battling xAI’s use of the portable turbines as long as the generators have been in use.They say the datacenter, which sits a few miles from historically Black neighborhoods, has been adding extra pollution to already overburdened communities.“Our communities, air, water and land are not playgrounds for billionaires chasing another buck,” said Abre’ Conner, the director of environmental and climate justice for the NAACP, which initiated a lawsuit against xAI last July saying the unpermitted turbines were violating the Clean Air Act.Methane gas turbines pump harmful nitrogen oxides into the air, which are known to cause cancer, asthma and other upper respiratory diseases.“The agency estimates the final action will result in the net annual [nitrogen oxide] emission reductions of up to 296 tons by 2032,” an EPA spokesperson told the Guardian.
For xAI, which makes the chatbot Grok, the turbines are necessary to supply additional power to its huge supercomputers,At full capacity, xAI’s Colossus 1 datacenter uses 150 megawatts of electricity – enough power to run 100,000 homes – and the company plans to expand,Musk set up Colossus 1 in just 122 days during the summer of 2024, record time for getting a datacenter up and running,Colossus 2, which is even bigger at 1m-square-feet, went under construction last year and is located on the border of Memphis in Southaven, Mississippi,A third xAI data center, also in Southaven, just got under way last week.
In a post on X, Musk said this supercomputer was named “MACROHARDRR” and would need nearly 2 gigawatts of computing power.Colossus 2 also is also powered by dozens of gas turbines.According to Mississippi Today, the datacenter has 59 generators; 18 of those are considered to be temporary and do not have air quality permits.Amanda Garcia, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed the intent to sue xAI alongside the NAACP, said the EPA ruling “makes it clear that companies are not – and have never been – allowed to build and operate methane gas turbines without a permit and that there is no loophole that would allow corporations to set up unpermitted power plants”.“We expect local health leaders to take swift action to ensure they are following federal law and to better protect neighbors from harmful air pollution,” Garcia added.
xAI did not return a request for comment,This article was amended on 16 January 2026 because a megawatt is a unit of power, not energy as an earlier version suggested,
Bank of England governor calls for fightback against populism; South East Water restores service to most Kent and Sussex homes – as it happened
Time to wrap up…The governor of the Bank of England has urged the world’s leading global institutions to fight back against the rise of populism, warning it represents one of the biggest threats to improvements in living standards.In a thinly veiled response to Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere with the independence of the US Federal Reserve, Andrew Bailey said that he and the heads of other institutions had a duty to “challenge back” populist narratives.“Part of the purpose of international agencies is that from time to time they have to tell us what we don’t want to hear, let alone act upon,” he said. “Of course, they have to be accountable for the accuracy and quality of the assessment. But, accepting that, we have to call out messenger shooting
Top two bosses at City & Guilds placed on leave after bonus scandal
The two most senior executives at City & Guilds have been put on leave shortly after a scandal over millions of pounds of bonuses triggered a Charity Commission investigation into the vocational training body.The chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and the chief financial officer, Abid Ismail, will be “absent from work for a short period”, as its new owner, PeopleCert, commissioned an internal investigation into events before and after its acquisition of City & Guilds’ training and qualifications business.Last week, the charity watchdog launched a statutory inquiry into last year’s sale of the qualification awards business to PeopleCert, an international certification company. The investigation will examine a range of problems, including “concerns raised in public reporting relating to the sale and bonuses awarded to its executives”.The inquiry was announced after the Guardian revealed last month that City & Guilds executives received million-pound bonuses after the charity privatised its business arm
Partly AI-generated folk-pop hit barred from Sweden’s official charts
A hit song has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart after it emerged the “artist” behind it was an AI creation.I Know, You’re Not Mine – or Jag Vet, Du Är Inte Min in Swedish – by a singer called Jacub has been a streaming success in Sweden, topping the Spotify rankings.However, the Swedish music trade body has excluded the song from the official chart after learning it was AI-generated.“Jacub’s track has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart, Sverigetopplistan, which is compiled by IFPI Sweden. While the song appears on Spotify’s own charts, it does not qualify for inclusion on the official chart under the current rules,” said an IFPI Sweden spokesperson
Prominent PR firm accused of commissioning favourable changes to Wikipedia pages
A high-profile PR company founded by Keir Starmer’s communications chief has been accused of commissioning changes to Wikipedia pages to make them more favourable towards clients.Portland Communications, founded by Tim Allan, has been linked to the so-called black hat edits, sometimes referred to as “Wikilaundering”. Several changes were made to Wikipedia pages by a network of editors, allegedly controlled by a contractor working on Portland’s behalf.According to an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), Portland outsourced Wikipedia editing relating to some of its high-profile clients, including the state of Qatar.TBIJ said it had evidence of alleged Wikipedia edits made on behalf of Portland between 2016 and 2024
Testing times for English cricket | Letters
Emma John’s perceptive analysis of cricket in Australia is spot-on (England ruthlessly privatised cricket – Australia embraces it with constant public displays of affection, 9 January). I have been visiting Australia for many years – our son and his family live in Sydney. The locals, on hearing my accent, mostly respond by saying “Sorry about the cricket, mate.” It’s not in a gloating or superior way, but in a genuine sense of puzzlement at how when we have often promised a real contest we perform like a malfunctioning firework.As Emma observes, in Australia cricket is a national obsession and accessible to all, either to watch or to play
Your Guardian sport weekend: Australian Open, NFL playoffs and the Afcon final
Ease into the football weekend with our essential rolling blog. Dominic Booth buckles up to bring you breaking news and insights from around the grounds with seven Premier League fixtures, kicking off at lunchtime with the Manchester derby. Jamie Jackson will be online at Old Trafford for a live Q&A before the match, so post your questions to matchday.live@theguardian.com
A linguistic own goal from Starmer’s critics | Letters
Reform UK’s London mayor candidate condemned for burqa stop and search remarks
Jenrick says he hopes his defection to Reform UK will ‘unite the right’ after Badenoch says he ‘tells a lot of lies’ – as it happened
Tory ‘arsonists’ still in charge of party, says Jenrick as he hits back at Badenoch
Nigel Farage tricked into paying tribute to Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins
‘Enough already’: Jenrick’s defection gets mixed reception from Reform members