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Cars parked alongside a facility in Memphis. There are multiple grey cooling rowers on the roof. A green field and fence are in the foreground of the image.

Opinion

It’s not too late for Elon Musk to take Memphis’s environmental health seriously

So far, he's not doing much more than moving fast and breaking things.
It’s not too late for Elon Musk to take Memphis’s environmental health seriously
Filed Under
Environmental Health
Tagged
Clean Water
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Written by
Ben Adams
Published
November 4, 2024
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Read Time
5 min

In June, the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce made a surprise announcement that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, would be building “the world’s largest supercomputer facility” in Memphis. Within days, people who live near the new facility began sounding the alarms. They were concerned about the risks it poses to public health—in their own community and beyond.

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It’s not hard to understand why Memphis, or other cities like it, would want an xAI computing facility built within its limits. Musk is lauded as a pioneer in clean energy—a leader in electric vehicles, electric charging infrastructure, and most recently, in deploying solar and energy storage. xAI’s Memphis facility is one of many AI data centers being built across the country—increasing energy demand at a time when the federal government is supporting new infrastructure and growth in clean electricity through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. These new centers promise good-paying modern jobs, as well as an opportunity to put new clean energy to work.

But these promises come true only if growth is handled the right way. AI data centers have been criticized by environmentalists for their carbon dioxide emissions, dangerous waste byproducts, and extraordinary demands on our electricity and water systems. One estimate holds that global AI infrastructure will soon use six times as much water as the nation of Denmark, and another that more than 30 percent of Ireland’s electricity will be devoted to AI computing centers by 2026.

So far, the Memphis project is not a model of how to do much more than move fast and break things. As NPR recently detailed, critics are concerned the tool “has fewer rules than other AI chatbots and has been known for creating controversial deepfake images, such as Mickey Mouse as a Nazi and Kamala Harris in lingerie,” as well as more indifference to curbing misinformation.

And that’s just the technology; the physical impact of the facility has also caused concern. It’s being built in South Memphis, known for both historically Black neighborhoods and poor air quality. It will place significant demands on the city’s electricity and water systems, and the impacts on both could harm residents.

To address these problems, xAI has made only promises—to coordinate with the city’s electric and water utility on a greywater facility and to install at least 50 megawatts (MW) of large battery storage facilities. So far, the promises aren’t plans; they’re talking points on a one-page factsheet, which lacks any mention of a timetable or detailed construction plan. And there are few avenues for accountability: The company has held no public meetings, nor communicated directly with the media. City officials signed nondisclosure agreements in order to engage xAI in negotiations to bring the plant to Memphis.

An annotated map of the proposed xAI facility in Memphis with utility areas outlined. Text boxes are in yellow, blue and red.

A map used in a presentation by MLGW at a July 9 Memphis City Council meeting to indicate some of the ways that xAI will use utilities.

MGLW via MLK50

Expand Image”>

Meanwhile, the project perpetuates the problems caused by decades of reactive management: higher prices for customers, a growing number of power outages, a lack of consideration for the people impacted by the new construction, and more. And while new power lines and water facilities are sorely needed in Memphis and elsewhere, the fact remains that work like this causes pollution.

In fact, xAI has already begun polluting—without the necessary permits, according to local environmental groups—in a neighborhood already burdened by legacy pollution from a coal power plant. And the supercomputer in question, Colossus, is already online, according to Musk’s social media account. If, as environmentalists fear, the plant affects the water supply, then the whole city will be harmed.

Still, it’s not too late for some meaningful relief to those impacted. For one thing, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or more likely its Tennessee counterpart, TDEC, can and should immediately require xAI to stop burning gas until it has been issued appropriate permits.

Looking ahead, proactive grid planning could work more transparently to identify sites where projects like these would be less burdensome, or even more beneficial. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which supplies and regulates power in Memphis, has ultimate authority over whether and how to deliver the 150 MW of electricity xAI is asking to draw from the grid. This gives the TVA unique leverage: It has an opportunity to call for planning that considers the electric, environmental justice, and public health impacts of high-consumption projects. As other data centers go up around the country, local utilities will have their own chances to follow suit.

More broadly, construction and other industrial activities at Musk’s facility should be stopped until the community has been given a voice—through open processes conducted by state or local offices with authority over electricity planning (TVA), water system planning (MLGW), or environmental safety (TDEC). Subverting or ignoring these processes has already led to public outcry, but the true downsides—weaker infrastructure and higher rates of pollution, illness, and other maladies—can still be avoided.

Perhaps, as we all hope, this project will be a boon for the city, growing its economy and making it a technology hub—and a worthy model for future similar projects. But it won’t work if it breaks the rules. The AI boom needs infrastructure—water, power, people—to launch a brighter future. Taking shortcuts won’t make this happen—it will just make things easier for the rich and powerful, with the rest of us left to pay the cost.

Top image: A busy parking lot and rooftop cooling towers that are part of a recirculating chilled water system at the xAI facility can be seen from Riverport Road. (Andrea Morales for MLK 50)

Filed Under
Environmental Health
Tagged
Clean Water
Contributors
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Ben Adams
Ben Adams is a transmission advocacy fellow at the Rocky Mountain Institute, working with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

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