SpaceX is helping from the DOJ in an effort to drop the NAACP air pollution lawsuit

With SpaceXThe rise of the stock during the first three days of trading, Elon Musk’s company receives help from the Department of Justice, which asked the federal court in Mississippi to open a case against the company brought by the NAACP.

The lawsuit was filed in April by the NAACP, which said xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence lab now owned by SpaceX, violated the federal Clean Air Act by using dozens of methane gas-burning engines to power its AI data centers without proper permits or pollution controls. Turbines emit pollutants that create smoke and particulates that can lead to increased health risks and odors.

The NAACP recently asked the court to issue an injunction preventing xAI from operating the turbines until a judge can make a decision.

SpaceX’s Colossus 1 and 2 data centers in Memphis, Tennessee, and the power facilities connected to those facilities, have faced protests for more than a year over issues including air pollution, electricity and water use and noise surrounding the facilities.

In a motion filed by the DOJ on June 15, the department’s attorneys accused the NAACP of threatening “U.S. national, economic, and energy security by seeking to shut down the power of intellectual innovation that supports the Department of Defense’s military operations.”

Before teaming up with SpaceX in February, xAI had built the Grok AI model and chatbot in an effort to compete with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.

Cameron Stanley, the Defense Department’s AI lead was quoted in the DOJ filing as saying the continued availability of Grok is “a matter of national security of the highest importance.”

The DOJ said that during the Iran war, the military version of xAI’s Grok “allowed the US military to send more than 2,000 weapons to 2,000 different targets within 96 hours, which is a testament to the significant increase in efficiency made possible by the Grok Gov Model.”

Earth Justice, one of the law firms representing the NAACP, told CNBC in an emailed statement that “DOJ wants to give itself veto power over citizen suits, which have been an important tool used to protect communities from illegal pollution for more than 50 years.”

The Southern Environmental Law Center, which is counsel in the case, characterized the DOJ’s proposal to intervene as a “gross usurpation of power” by the Trump administration. And Abre’ Conner, NAACP Director of Environmental Justice and Climate, said in an email, “At a time when the super-wealthy seem protected and supported by some of our government agencies, it’s important that polluting industries don’t profit at the expense of Black communities.”

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Residents who live near the xAI facility in Southaven, Mississippi, just outside of Memphis, filed a separate lawsuit earlier this month saying the company’s power plant leaves them exposed to “constant noise, vibration and other nuisance-level injuries.”

SpaceX held its long-awaited Nasdaq debut on Friday, rising by $2 trillion in market capitalization. The stock continued to rally this week, surpassing the $2.8 trillion mark on Tuesday, passing Amazon.

While the xAI data centers were built to further Musk’s AI ambitions, SpaceX is now leasing computing power to Anthropic and Google.

In May, Gallup released polling results that found seven out of ten Americans oppose the construction of AI data centers in their area, including nearly half, 48%, who are strongly opposed.

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