Judge rejects Trump’s wild claim EPA can dismiss data center pollution lawsuits
Summary
- A federal judge rejected an effort by the Trump administration to dismiss an NAACP lawsuit against SpaceXAI over unpermitted gas turbines powering its Colossus data center in Memphis.
- The lawsuit alleges the turbines threaten local vulnerable communities with severe air pollution, seeking penalties under the Clean Air Act.
- The administration argued the EPA has unilateral authority to dismiss citizen suits under the Clean Air Act, a claim the judge called an extraordinary position with no grounding in federal law.
- The court ruled that nothing in the Clean Air Act allows the EPA administrator to unilaterally dismiss citizen suits when the agency is not taking enforcement action.
- The government was given until October 23 to explain its position on intervening in the litigation without attempting to drop the suit.
Why it matters
This ruling prevents the executive branch from unilaterally shielding AI infrastructure projects from Clean Air Act citizen lawsuits. It preserves legal avenues for communities to hold tech companies accountable for environmental pollution caused by rapid data center expansion.