More Perfect Union
5 HN mentions · mentioned in 5 months, 2025–2026
17:08 · 4.3M views · May 30, 2025
A More Perfect Union report on xAI's data center in Memphis, which residents say burns gas without permits or pollution controls and harms their health.
HN mostly cites it critically, as evidence of air pollution from AI data center turbines in Memphis.
5 comments from Hacker News
You got good data centres, and their construction and operation were likely regulated. The problem is that apparently you can just ignore that by building in poor places that won't hold you accountable and perhaps don't even have the regulations. If they do, just don't comply with them. Then your gas turbines can be as loud as you like, nobody will stop you. There's this one weird trick where you can pretend your generators aren't turned on, but they are, and they pollute badly. Nobody will call you out on it. this video Also you can take people's drinking water to cool your data centre, and promise a water recycling plant, and then just not build it. [LINK] What I forgot to mention is this one weird trick only works if you're a turbo-bastard with an enormous bank account, and the government of the poor place thinks it's in line for a payday.
>The idea that all this AI is powered by “green” energy and unicorn farts is just a bunch of PR puffery from tech companies trying to divert attention from the environmental damage they’re causing. Do we have a solid breakdown ala Our World in Data for the energy mix mused to power AI Datacenters? The only thing I have seen is the facility that Musk acquired in Memphis for Grok is illegaily emitting more pollutants than allowed because of Musk's insane drive for speed and it is causing health problems in the underlying poor community. [1]: this video Its the reason I will never use Grok but i've been curious about where ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are hosted. Google has had a history of efficient data centers and they are running custom silicon so i'd assume they are the best here?
This isn't true for the town Elon moved into in TX to house his new xAI datacenter. It was an existing town and they are using portable generators that are completely destroying the air in the town. All happened in the last 2-3 years. And because the generators are "temporary" they didn't think they needed EPA approval. They are apparently breaking existing laws, and told the community only a few of the generators were online, however infrared photography showed that almost all of them were operational. There is a long history of this sort of thing. A video about this: this video
Watch these [LINK] [LINK] this video Then, tell me if you want to live anywhere near those. Then, tell me of a nuclear power plant that has that bad a repo.
False, come up with new talking points please: this video If these things were so safe the rich should build them next to their homes.