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 massive data centers 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 the 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 aren’t in compliance.The EPA spokesperson didn’t 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 data center, 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 massive supercomputers,At full capacity, xAI’s Colossus 1 data center uses 150 megawatts of electricity – enough energy to power 100,000 homes for a year – 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 data center 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 underway last week.
In a post on X, Musk said this supercomputer is named “MACROHARDRR” and will need nearly 2 gigawatts of computing power,Colossus 2 also is also powered by dozens of gas turbines,According to Mississippi Today, the data center 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.
British indie band Pulp agree to play Adelaide festival after boycott U-turn
The British indie band Pulp will play at the Adelaide festival in February after initially pulling out of the event in protest at the cancellation of Palestinian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah.The band issued a statement on social media on Thursday night announcing that they would “honour our invitation to perform in Adelaide on 27 February” after the festival organisers performed a U-turn, apologised to Abdel-Fattah for her treatment and invited her to speak at next year’s event.Abdel-Fattah was barred from the Adelaide writers’ week last week because of “cultural sensitivity” in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, prompting dozens of other speakers to boycott the event.Pulp decided to boycott the related Adelaide festival but the organisers asked the band to delay making an announcement “while they sought to resolve this crisis for all sides”.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailThe board responsible for the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah, who has been criticised by Jewish groups for controversial comments about Israel, has mostly stood down and been replaced
Jewish American columnist Thomas Friedman says he was uninvited from 2024 Adelaide writers’ week over ‘timing’
A New York Times columnist at the centre of a second controversy engulfing Adelaide writers’ week has said he was uninvited from the event in 2024.Thomas Friedman, who is Jewish, confirmed to Nine newspapers on Thursday that after he agreed to appear in a video link session, he was subsequently notified “that the timing would not work out”.Earlier this week, former festival board member Tony Berg, who is of Jewish heritage, made an extraordinary accusation of “hypocrisy” against the director of Adelaide writers’ week, Louise Adler, saying she had lobbied for the removal of Friedman from the festival lineup.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailAt the time, a group of 10 academics had signed a petition demanding Friedman’s removal due to a controversial column he had written in the New York Times days earlier, which compared the Middle East conflict to the animal kingdom. The Palestinian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, who was uninvited from this year’s writers’ week, was among the group
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy review – Holly Hunter is a transgressive thrill in this horny high-school spinoff
This hormone-fuelled tale of the training college for space voyagers is like Grange Hill, with phasers – and it has a female lead unlike any captain beforeThe original Star Trek TV series debuted in 1966, so trying to get your head round all the sequels, prequels and timeline-splitting spin-offs can often feel like homework. It was only a matter of time before the venerable sci-fi franchise used a school as a setting. But Starfleet Academy, the latest streaming series, is not some random cosmic polytechnic for aliens to study humanities or vice versa. This is the oft-referenced San Francisco space campus sited right next to the Golden Gate Bridge. With James T Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard on the alumni list, it is basically Hogwarts for wannabe starship captains
Adelaide festival apologises to Randa Abdel-Fattah and invites her to participate in 2027 writers’ week
The new Adelaide festival board has issued a public apology to Palestinian Australian academic Randa Abdel-Fattah, and has promised she will be invited to Adelaide writers’ week in 2027.Abdel-Fattah immediately accepted the apology, posting on Instagram that it was a vindication “of our collective solidarity and mobilisation against anti-Palestinian racism, bullying and censorship”.She said she was still considering the board’s invitation to appear at the 2027 event.In a statement on Thursday morning, Adelaide Festival Corporation acknowledged they had previously said they would exclude Abdel-Fattah from this year’s event “because it would be culturally insensitive to allow her to participate. We retract that statement”
Churchill’s desk and rare artwork among items donated to UK cultural institutions
Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli’s desk, a painting by Vanessa Bell and a rare artwork by Edgar Degas are among the items of cultural importance saved for the nation this year.The items, worth a total of £59.7m, will be allocated to museums, galleries, libraries and archives around the UK as part of Art Council England’s cultural gifts and acceptance in lieu schemes.Some items were accepted for their outstanding rarity, cultural value or technical skills, while others offer insights into the UK’s history through some of the nation’s most renowned public figures.The Regency mahogany standing desk used by Churchill and Disraeli during their times as prime minister has been allocated to the National Trust’s Hughenden Manor, Disraeli’s former country house
Jimmy Kimmel on ICE shooting of Renee Good: ‘They’re investigating the victims instead of the perpetrator’
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