Elon Musk's SpaceXAI is drawing a call for more accountability from a member of U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce.
On July 28, the House Committee's Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., D-New Jersey, demanded documentation and a tour of SpaceXAI's Colossus and Colossus 2 data centers in Memphis. The demands came via a letter from Pallone directly addressing SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk. The letter was also sent following a recent meeting with SpaceXAI leadership and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. xAI is a subsidiary of SpaceX. The company rebranded as SpaceXAI on July 6.
"We need to be putting real, substantial federal guardrails in place to restrict their impacts on monthly power bills, the power grid,
and our air and water. If Congress does not act to put sufficient guardrails in place, we may need a moratorium on data centers," the letter stated.
In the letter, Pallone is requesting a list of all natural gas turbines at Colossus and Colossus 2 data center sites since January 2024, along with the number of additional turbines planned at the sites until 2028. Additional requests include:
- All communication between state and local parties regarding power generation at the site, including the Shelby County Health Department, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), City of Memphis, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the State of Tennessee, the State of Mississippi and The White House.
- All permitting and paperwork required for natural gas turbines at the data center sites
- Documentation of emission reports and analysis
- Documentation and anaylsis of water usage and water contamination studies
- All communication records regarding the Colossus Water Recycling Plant in Memphis
Pallone is requesting documentation by Aug. 11, according to the letter.
Representatives from SpaceXAI could not be reached for comment.
Top Congressional Dems visit Memphis, lawsuits abound
The House Committee's letter comes a few weeks after fellow Democratic members of Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Summer Lee (D-PA), visited Shelby County and spoke out against the rapid expansion of xAI's data center campusesin Memphis and Southaven, Mississippi.
The request also comes after several lawsuits have been filed against SpaceXAI and its affiliates, MZX Tech LLC and CTC Property LLC.
In May, the NAACP and the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP filed a preliminary injunction against xAI and its affiliate, MZX Tech LLC, for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act at its Southaven power plant.
The former Duke Energy site, located at 2875 Stanton Road, is the location of more than 50 turbines that are used to power the Colossus 2 data center. The data center is located across state lines in Shelby County.
SpaceXAI's Colossus data center at 3231 Paul R. Lowry Road has been in operation since 2024. The data center initially was powered using natural gas turbines and has since shifted to a combination of microgrids (solar, battery storage and gas turbines) with two 150-megawatt substations. Additionally, artificial intelligence company Anthropic is in a contractual agreement with SpaceX to rent out a portion of the compute capacity at the data center.
Water recycling plant slowly moving forward
The $80 million Colossus Water Recycling Plant is a planned recycled wastewater treatment plant north of the Colossus data center in South Memphis. The project has been in the works since 2024 and in January, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), approved an operations permit for xAI affiliate CTC Property LLC regarding the greywater plant.
In April, Musk confirmed the project had been put on hold as SpaceXAI prioritized operations at Colossus 2. The plant is expected to reduce strain on the Memphis Aquifer by 9%. On July 23, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said he believes SpaceXAI will resume construction at the site in early 2027.
Mayor Young's administration could not be reached for comment regarding the House Committee's letter and request for documentation.
Neil Strebig is a journalist with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at neil.strebig@commercialappeal.com, 901-426-0679
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: U.S. House Committee member demands tour of Memphis SpaceXAI data centers
