xAI operates 35 turbines that are currently emitting excessive NOx and formaldehyde, far exceeding legal limits and lacking necessary permits. A recent letter highlights that without implementing best available control technology (BACT), these turbines could potentially release over 177 tons of NOx per year instead of the current 1,200 to 2,100 tons. Local authorities and organizations like the NAACP are questioning xAI's claimed permitting exemption, arguing that it does not apply to such large turbines and that proper emissions testing for formaldehyde has not occurred, raising public health concerns.
For instance, if all the 35 turbines operated by xAI were using add-on air pollution control technology to achieve a NOx emission rate of 2 ppm-as xAI's consultant agreed it would-they would emit about 177 tons of NOx per year, as opposed to the 1,200 to 2,100 tons per year they currently emit, the letter said.
xAI's failure to comply with the BACT requirement is not only a Clean Air Act violation on paper, but also a significant and ongoing violation that is resulting in substantial amounts of harmful excess emissions, the letter said.
The NAACP and SELC suggested that the exemption that xAI is seemingly operating under could be a nonroad engine exemption. However, they alleged that xAI's turbines don't qualify for that yearlong exemption, and even if they did, any turbines still onsite after a year would surely not be covered and should have permitting by now.
While some local leaders, including the Memphis Mayor and Shelby County Health Department, have claimed there is a '364-exemption' for xAI's gas turbines, they have never been able to point to a specific exemption that would apply to turbines as large as the ones at the xAI site.
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