xAI ran 27 unpermitted turbines. EPA ruled that illegal. xAI ran 59 more.

Reuters counted 59 unpermitted gas turbines powering Colossus 2. xAI had told regulators: 27.

In January 2026, the EPA closed the “mobile turbine” loophole — temporary, wheeled generators still need Clean Air Act permits — specifically because of Colossus 1. xAI filed the same argument for Colossus 2 and ran 59 of them anyway.

The turbines sit in DeSoto County, Mississippi, just over the Tennessee state line. Nicholas Mailloux told Reuters the potential NOx output would put xAI “up there with some of the heaviest polluting natural gas power plants across the entire country.” On the Tennessee side within five miles, 94% of residents are Black. Asthma runs above county averages in 27 of 28 nearby census tracts.

“I can’t do anything about it,” said Colonial Hills resident Ervin Laws, “because he’s got more money than me.”

That’s not despair. It’s what happens when the defendant can outspend the regulator. The NAACP and Earthjustice filed suit in April. The EPA has not acted on Colossus 2.

The ruling exists. The enforcement doesn’t. That gap isn’t a failure of the system — it’s the system.