CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Troubling Precedent of Federal Immunity for Corporate Pollution

Pulp mill, Halsey, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice in a US District Court to dismiss a case between the NAACP and Elon Musk’s xAI based on “federal policy, national security, and the public interest.” The case revolves around a gas turbine plant dubbed the Colossus Gas Plant that residents complain is pumping toxic pollutants into nearby neighborhoods. But the DOJ states that the turbines are essential to nearby data centers that power xAI’s Grok, an AI tool the government says is critical to military operations in Iran. DOJ’s lawyers are also arguing that citizens don’t have the right to sue, a stance that is quickly becoming the de facto position within the administration on pollution.

It all started in 2025, when residents of Boxtown, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee, saw the arrival of Musk’s xAI, which took over an old manufacturing factory to build its Colossus 1 data center. To power the data center, the company installed methane-burning, or gas, turbines. Per the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) own site, these turbines emit pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and carbon monoxide, which are linked toincreased rates of asthma, respiratory diseases,........

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