The EPA ruled in January 2026 that xAI illegally operated up to 35 unpermitted methane turbines at its Memphis-area Colossus data centers, closing a loophole the company had exploited to build infrastructure faster than regulators could respond. The NAACP filed an active Clean Air Act lawsuit against xAI in April 2026, targeting a separate power plant in Southaven, Mississippi; the DOJ intervened in June to seek dismissal, revealing that Grok was used in U.S. military operations in Iran. SpaceX's Super Intelligence division — which absorbed xAI in a February 2026 all-stock merger — posted $7.56 billion in Q3 2026 revenue, an 830% year-over-year surge that made AI the company's single largest business segment. It took 122 days for Elon Musk's xAI to build a supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, and roughly that long for the legal and environmental backlash to begin catching up. The facility, known as Colossus, went live with 100,000 Nvidia H100 processors. To bring Colossus online before the local grid could handle the power load, xAI deployed a fleet of mobile methane gas turbines, ultimately operating as many as 35 units around the facility's perimeter — more than double the 15 the Shelby County Health Department had authorized. On January 15, 2026, the EPA finalized updated performance standards for combustion turbines, closing the loophole and determining that large portable turbines