Community turns raucous against xAI at public hearing
Hundreds of people packed into Fairley High’s gymnasium in Whitehaven on Friday evening largely to vent their frustration about the artificial intelligence company’s use of natural gas turbines.
Topic: xAI
RSSThere are 127 article(s) tagged xAI:
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April 2025
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Professor says xAI turbines don’t affect air quality if company’s claims are true
Chunrong Jia, a professor in the University of Memphis’ division of epidemiology, biostatistics and environmental health, modeled the impact of what xAI’s turbines would have on air quality in Southwest Memphis.
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Colossus: Can Memphis stop Elon Musk?
To many, xAI is just another chapter in what residents said they think is a legacy of industrial racism and pollution. The debate centers on one central question: Is Colossus worth the cost?
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Colossus: The race to build the world’s most powerful machine in Memphis
XAI’s first Memphis data center Colossus dwells in a former Electrolux plant in Southwest Memphis. It is arguably one of the most valuable machines in the world controlled by someone with unrivaled wealth and galactic ambitions.
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Colossus: How will TVA, MLGW keep up with xAI’s power needs?
The U.S. does not have enough electricity to continue powering the artificial intelligence boom, according to experts and studies, which raises questions on how Memphis can provide power to xAI’s supercomputers.
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Protesters angry about everything from Social Security to Gulf of America
Hundreds protested for or against numerous causes at Poplar Avenue and Highland Street on Saturday afternoon, carrying signs denouncing xAI, the Trump administration and one that said simply, “Where do I start?”
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Here’s what xAI will pay in property taxes
XAI is being taxed on $2.2 billion in investments, not the $12 billion the Greater Memphis Chamber touted throughout the past year.
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Environmental groups say xAI violating federal law with turbines
The groups are urging the Health Department to issue an emergency order to stop xAI’s operation of what appear to be dozens of natural gas turbines in Southwest Memphis.
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City Council Scorecard: Tabling Chickasaw Gardens, the Musk divide
The Memphis City Council delayed indefinitely any decision on the proposed closings of two streets in Chickasaw Gardens, and environmental impacts of an xAI plant caused a riff in the body.
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Officials seeks public comment on xAI air permit
As local groups push against xAI’s turbines as part of a fight against pollution, the Health Department director said she will schedule a public hearing on the permit for the company’s Southwest Memphis plant.
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March 2025
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Shelby County Commission goes deep on school, xAI actions
The Monday, March 31, County Commission meeting will be a busy one. On the agenda is an advisory board for Memphis-Shelby County Schools and a call for public hearings on xAI’s permitting process.
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Trump could exempt xAI from air-emissions permit
President Donald Trump could potentially exempt a large portion of heavy industry from emissions standards. Here’s what that could mean for xAI in Memphis.
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Young hopes to dodge tax hike as budget looms
Memphis Mayor Paul Young also heard more concerns about xAI at the One Memphis forum Wednesday, but promised to devote its tax revenue to specific public projects in Southwest Memphis.
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Mayor faces community uproar about xAI
Environmental advocates are looking to stop Elon Musk’s xAI from receiving an air-emissions permit for the natural turbines that partially power its data center in Southwest Memphis.
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Memphis City Council gives final approval to xAI land deal
The Memphis City Council voted again Tuesday to approve a land sale for Elon Musk’s xAI to build a wastewater facility in Southwest Memphis.
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City Council sets early start to budget season in return from spring break
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City Council approves land sale to xAI
The company’s first effort to buy the land,which would be used for a water recycling facility, was derailed by council skepticism in early February.
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XAI building new data center in Whitehaven
It sits a few hundred yards from the Tennessee Valley Authority Southaven Combined Cycle Plant. The plant will provide a power source for the energy-intensive data center.
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February 2025
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‘A unified voice’: Memphis Chamber group makes itself heard in Nashville
Eighty-six members of the Greater Memphis Chamber traveled to Nashville to meet with state legislators, officers and cabinet heads to advocate for issues relevant to the local business community.
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Memphis Chamber, economists say city is in ‘high-growth phase’
Last year was the first time the city exceeded $100 billion in gross regional product, officials at the Greater Memphis Chamber State of the Economy luncheon said.
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Here’s what xAI could use 552 acres for
Last year, xAI agreed to lease 552 acres from the Economic Development Growth Engine. For months, it has been unclear what plans xAI had for the land.
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Why Elon Musk chose Memphis for xAI facility
At the end of a product-release broadcast on X, Elon Musk explained why xAI chose the Bluff City and the former Electrolux building in Southwest Memphis.
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With xAI intending to keep turbines, community concerned about pollution
On Thursday, xAI’s plans to use natural gas turbines in the long term became public after The Daily Memphian received the company’s recent application to the Shelby County Health Department for an air-emissions permit.
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Conaway: Bottled arrogance, just in time for Valentine’s
Dan Conaway writes, “We’ve been chosen as the test market for a new men’s cologne just in time for Valentine’s Day: Elon Musk.”
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XAI plans to use natural gas turbines long-term
CTC Property, a subsidiary of xAI, applied for air-emissions permits for its fleet of natural gas turbines in January.
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Proposed xAI greywater plant faces City Council skepticism
An xAI representative received a mixed reception from the Memphis City Council regarding the company’s plan to buy 13 city-owned acres where it will build the greywater plant.
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