POA and our partners at Memphis Community Against Pollution and Young, Gifted & Green released a statement the day of the announcement asking critical questions and encouraging the public to ensure xAI operates in a reasonable and thoughtful manner in Memphis.

Construction is moving fast. Media reports have stated that xAI will be operational in August 2024 and it appears construction is occurring around the clock. Other Elon Musk-backed enterprises are known to move at similar speeds with little to no community involved. Fortunately, xAI will not have the same levels of hazardous materials on site as Tesla factories, or SpaceX. The Washington Post has reported that companies owned by Musk in Texas have numerous water quality violations and we do not want the same to happen here in Memphis.

Data centers in general use a lot of electricity and water. This growing trend for commuting power has major tech companies looking for locations with access to reliable power and a plentiful water supply. We're not sure Memphis is prepared for the world's largest supercomputer without compromising resident's access to power and water.

Lack of Transparency

The building that xAI now occupies is in an area zoned "heavy industrial", meaning there are many uses of this facility that do not need permits or any approvals from the local Land Use Control Board or the Memphis City Council. That was likely a reason this deal was kept so secret, without knowledge of even Memphis elected officials.

It is normal for economic development projects to have code names and be kept from the public while certain negotiations are occurring. But there is a level of public scrutiny these private dealings must comply with - especially in relation to contracts with public assets.

It has now been widely reported that the MLGW President was a part of this economic development deal where MLGW agreed to:

1. Allow xAI to construct and possibly operate an electrical substation that may later be transferred to MLGW;
2. Provide xAI with 150 MW of electricity by 2025, of which only 8 MW is currently available, at millions of dollars of expense to MLGW; and
3. Serve xAI with 1.3 million gallons per day of municipal drinking water, at least until either MLGW or xAI builds a water reuse plant.

POA and our partners raised these concerns and others in a letter submitted to the MLGW Board on June 19, 2024. Our questions have yet to be answered.

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Water Supply

A water demand of over 1 million gallons per day could have negative, if not detrimental, affects to the drinking water supply for southwest Memphis. During and around Christmas 2022, a winter storm impacted the electric grid, causing TVA to implement rolling blackouts and another water crisis with a boil water notice and many residents without water at all.  Similar scenarios have played out every winter since 2021, proving that TVA's reliance on our drinking water infrastructure to generate power causes serious vulnerabilities to the community.

In 2023, POA resurrected the campaign for TVA to use recycled wastewater, resulting in 76 letters to the MLGW Board, numerous articles, and public comments. This facility is a real solution to protect the quantity as well as quality of our drinking water and to serve as an economic-development tool for other industries with environmental commitments.

Reclaimed wastewater must go through additional treatment that would further clean up the wastewater effluent. This water doesn’t have to be up to drinking-water standards, but it has to be cleaner than what is currently discharged into the Mississippi River. Otherwise, the water will scale and generally “gunk up” the cooling water recirculation system or other machinery and can be an expensive, ongoing maintenance issue for TVA, xAI and other industries using reclaimed water.

The proximity of xAI, TVA, and even NuCor Steel provides the opportunity to reduce reliance on our drinking water infrastructure by building a shared reuse facility at the WWTP.

We understand that both xAI and the City of Memphis are pursuing preliminary engineering studies to develop a water reuse facility. It seems as though they are competing with each other to build the facility.

POA supports water reuse, but we need to ensure the facility has a solid financial backing and the City can maintain it.

• If the water reuse facility is privately financed and constructed, will that put MLGW ratepayers at financial risk?
• Who maintains ownership?
• How will MLW be involved in the construction or operation of the water reuse facility?

These are the questions we need to determine up front so that MLGW, Memphis City Council, and the public can finally celebrate the protection of our drinking water supply in southwest Memphis.

Power Supply

With more power generation, more air pollution is likely to follow.

Southwest Memphis is already overburdened with air pollution and increased generation from TVA's plant will exacerbate those emissions. It is unclear if xAI plans to build any solar farms or cover the building rooftop with solar. Fossil fuels are the primary

There is a massive gap in the available power to the site and the power the company needs. Without public involvement, xAI is building out capacity at a nearby MLGW substation to 50 MW.

At a City Council MLGW Committee meeting on July 9, 2024, we learned that MLGW submitted a request to the TVA Board for permission to serve xAI’s 150 MW load.  

How does the TVA Board have a role in authorizing this deal, but the MLGW Board and City Council do not?

In the short term, the company is generating its power through gas turbines that increase the air emissions.