Who Let Elon Musk Pollute South Memphis?
S. E. Anderson
Last week on Lever Time, producer Ariella Markowitz told the story of how AI executives are pushing for data-center buildouts — no matter the impact on everyone else. For some communities, that includes sacrificing clean air.
In an exclusive bonus for our premium subscribers, we spoke with Tennessee Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D), who’s been at the center of an environmental battle against the gas turbines powering “Colossus,” Elon Musk’s massive data center in South Memphis.
TRANSCRIPT
Following is an automated, unedited transcription of this episode. The text may contain grammatical or spelling errors, especially for proper nouns, or attribute text to the wrong speaker. If you plan to quote any part of this transcript, please first confirm that it is correct by listening to the audio.
[00:00:00] Ariella Markowitz: From The Lever's reader supported newsroom, I'm Ariella Markowitz. Last week on Lever Time, I told the story of how AI executives are pushing data center buildouts, no matter the sacrifice for some communities, that means sacrificing clean air. As a special bonus for you, our premium subscribers, we're sharing an interview with Tennessee representative Justin J. Pearson. He's a politician and activist at the center of an environmental battle against the gas turbines powering Colossus. Elon Musk's massive data center in South Memphis. Here is that interview.
First of all, could you just please introduce yourself to our listeners? What's your name, what do you do?
[00:00:47] Justin Pearson: Great. So I'm Tennessee State Representative Justin J. Pearson. I represent District 86, which includes Memphis and as part of Shelby County and the Tennessee legislature and the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Uh, my top issues are focusing on poverty. I do a lot of work in environmental and climate justice, supporting our veterans and doing really anything, uh, that I can to make our communities more livable, more safe, more. Just
[00:01:12] Ariella Markowitz: tell me a little bit about your life growing up in Memphis and what inspired you to run for office.
[00:01:17] Justin Pearson: Yeah. Uh, so I was really fortunate to have two extraordinary matriarchs and my grandmothers, my grandmama Gwen, my Grandmama Pearson, who really, uh, were, were guiding posts and guiding lights for us. 'cause my parents had kids as teenagers. Um, they're just 15 and 14. Uh, 15 and 16. They had my oldest brother.
I came a little later at 20 and 21, and my baby brother, uh, came five years after that. But there were five of us in total. Um, and we grew up financially poor, uh, but spiritually rich. Uh, we had strong faith community at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, and because of the poverty, we moved around a fair bit.
You know, uh, several different apartments and town homes and things like that. Some were roach infested or termite infested. And I remember a specific example where we had roaches in the wallpaper, and my mom advocated for us to be moved into a town home. Uh, she's really the first advocate I, I, I knew who saw things, uh, uh, that were wrong and fought to change them.
Um, but my grandmothers were in Westwood, and so their homes were where we were every Sunday. And if anything was ever going wrong. And so Westwood really is where I have the fortunate privilege to call my home space. And I live five minutes away from where my grandmama, Gwen's house was. And so we're still in the neighborhood and community, uh, because they, they really instilled in us the importance of family, the importance of community, and that's what has continued to keep me, uh, all this time from going to high school.
I went to Mitchell High School in South Memphis, Southwest Memphis. Uh, and when I went to college, I came back home and started a summer program in a summer camp, uh, in the same high school because building up your neighborhood, building up the community, like that's part of the responsibility that I've always felt that I had had.
Uh, and I've been really fortunate now to serve representing that same district and that same community.
An aerial image of xAI's data center in southwest Memphis. Local residents are protesting against the facility's use of gas-powered turbines.
[00:03:02] Ariella Markowitz: I guess, like for people who haven't been there to Memphis, like can you, you'd already described it a little bit, but like, I don't know what's, what's life like there? Like what are the people like?
Like what are the kind of biggest problems?
[00:03:14] Justin Pearson: Yeah, sure. I mean, Memphis is filled with extraordinary people. And I mean, people who understand, uh, what it's like to have to go through things, uh, to, to achieve, who've seen the, the, the, the worst that can happen. And we have people who are alive when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Was assassinated in Memphis and also who believe in the promise. People who marched with me, who protested, who, uh, fought against multi-billion dollar corporations like the Alia connection Pipeline and won and then passed three laws in the city and the county to prevent that from happening again. And so we, we understand pain and we also understand the promise of the dream, the promise of possibility at that.
Uh, we want to see nurtured and engendered in into the world. But you're gonna hear great music when you come to Memphis. You're gonna taste amazing food, particularly our barbecue is world renowned and famous. Uh, but the soul of the people in Memphis is what you remember more than anything. We good people, uh, who love one another, who love our community, and even people who are from there know that it has a couple of challenges just like every other place.
We don't leave, we don't give up on it. Uh, we give more to it. And I think that's, that's what's so special about it, and I'm glad to call it home.
[00:04:26] Ariella Markowitz: Yeah. So, no, that's amazing. And I, I really like. It makes this story really powerful when you think about, you know, the strong community and then you know, what happens when, you know Elon Musk and XAI announced that they're gonna build a data center in this community at, at very fast speed as well.
Like, do you remember like where you were during that announcement or when you heard it was happening and what was gonna occur? Like, what was kind of the community's reaction and, you know, what was the promise of what this thing was gonna be?
[00:05:01] Justin Pearson: I think there were, uh, two different reactions that were happening by two different groups of people.
There was one group of people who were, uh, enthusiastically supportive. Now I read about it in the news, in the commercial appeal, uh, that this was happening and that I read all the other news articles to figure out like what's going on, seeing news stations reporting on it, and the press conference and those sorts of things.
I. I'm reading these articles and, uh, uh, the Congressman Steve Cohen and the mayors, uh, uh, a fellow state representatives and state senators are all praising this project saying, this is a great investment for Memphis. And I'm like, we're talking about Elon Musk here. Um, and, and people are just praising it.
You never saw a quote from me because my first question was, where is this gonna be happening? Because I feared, as oftentimes happens with projects like this, they end up in the same communities that already have toxic release inventory facilities. They end up in the same communities that are already overburdened by legacy pollution and corporations who have not invested or cared about our community to begin with.
And lo and behold, it gets announced that this project is gonna be in southwest Memphis, in Box Town and Westwood adjacent to Box Town and Westwood. And it's gonna create pollution and it's gonna create some systemic problems for our communities. So you will never see a quote from me praising the project, because when these things happen, I'm always worried it's gonna be my constituents who are paying the cost for it.
[00:06:35] Ariella Markowitz: So te tell me about this cost, because, you know, some people like that you mentioned are claiming this is a great economic opportunity for the area. It's gonna bring in tax revenue, it's gonna bring in more opportunities, construction, all this stuff for the area. Like, like what do you, what do you make of all the pro arguments and then, you know, what's your take?
[00:07:00] Justin Pearson: One of my responsibilities right, is to vet what is happening to my community or in my community and determine what my position on it is going to be as a representative of over 70,000 people, right? Uh, in, in the Tennessee House of Representatives. When I looked at this project and I heard the propaganda from the Chamber of Commerce and from Mayor Young and others who were just head over heels about the tax money that this project was gonna provide and how essential it was that we have this project.
I started to think, now what are the cons? And they wouldn't even mention any. And that should be a red light for anybody to say, wait, something's wrong. And so then we learned that XI and Elon Musk are building, uh, a power plant using gas turbines that are unpermitted not from the EPA, not from the health department.
No one has given them permission to do this antithetical to the Clean Air Act. And my position becomes more clear. We can allow for someone to pollute the air that my constituents are breathing, not just in district 86, but all across this region for billion. A billionaire's company, other people,
[00:08:19] Ariella Markowitz: yeah.
Sorry to stop you actually. You're, I think you're really cooking there, but, um, I mean the, the methane turbines that are, are the turbines that are emitting methane gas are really, you know, quite a scandal. And especially, you know, you mentioned this, but in an area that's already burdened with some pollution.
Like, can you tell me a little bit about the history
[00:08:41] Justin Pearson: mm-hmm.
[00:08:42] Ariella Markowitz: Of box town and you know, the kind of impact of air pollution on this already affected area?
[00:08:48] Justin Pearson: Absolutely. And it's not just some pollution, it's most of the pollution in Shelby County is concentrated and begins in box town, right? 22 of the largest of the 30 largest polluters are all in 3 8 1 0 9.
And so we're talking about a community that's completely overburdened 17 toxic release inventory facilities to 18 toxic release inventory facilities from Valero or Refinery to the Tennessee Valley Authority, to Nucor Steel, to Stella Jones, to XAI, all within a couple of miles of each other. This leads to a cancer risk that's 4.1 times the national average, an increase in COPD and asthma and our city.
Uh, or our county, Shelby County, having the most kids of all of the state to go to the emergency room for respiratory illnesses. That's what we're dealing with. That's the consequences of these actions. And so when someone comes and builds a gas plant, I'm permitted no permissions from anybody. And then just tells the mayor, just tells people we have a fake exemption, uh, for 365 days and they believe it.
[00:09:49] Ariella Markowitz: Right.
[00:09:50] Justin Pearson: It ends up devastating our community. And ultimately the Trump administration is the one who says, actually Representative Pearson Memphis Community Against Pollution, young Gift, and Green Tiger. All these people who are organizing in Box Town and Westwood, they were the ones who were right. And all of the low, the, the, the Democratic institutions, the lowercase d Democratic institutions that were supposed to protect us, failed us.
[00:10:12] Ariella Markowitz: Right. Tell me about the speed of the data center being constructed. Was it surprising to see how fast it just like sprung up into town and then when did. That you and the community realize like these turbines might be illegal?
[00:10:26] Justin Pearson: Yeah, I mean, it happened very quickly and I think they praised themselves for being able to do this in 22 days or something like that.
And so from start to operation happened very quickly, and a lot of the news was a part of the problem. They were praising how quickly it was happening and misusing the word investment, saying billions of dollars of investment is coming into Memphis. If billions of dollars of investment were coming into the city, wouldn't we feel it?
No. They were investing billions of dollars into their company. That doesn't have anything to do with us. We're only getting $20 million in taxes. And the truth of the matter is we're not getting as many dollars in taxes as we're supposed to get because they're only being taxed on $2 billion worth of equipment instead of 12 billion.
An aerial photo of the xAI facility taken with a thermal imaging camera showing heat coming from the turbines, in April 2025.
And so really, we're supposed to have upwards of a hundred million dollars in taxes, but they're able to dodge around that by working, uh, the system, uh, and rigging it so that they wouldn't have to pay their fair share. And so one, it did happen very quickly. What we realized, probably two months in. With the help of the Southern Environmental Law Center, which are the nation's best attorneys in the South for the environment, was that these turbines likely were illegal and that this exemption that was being claimed was completely wrong.
And we reached out to the Shelby County Health Department to inform them this them about this, but they didn't take us very seriously. And so we followed up again as we realized they were increasing the amount of turbines. First it was eight, then it was 16, and ultimately it was 35 gas turbines. And the health department refused to do anything.
There were politicians and elected officials refused to hold them accountable. And there were just a few of us, ultimately a couple of state representatives, a couple city councils, a couple of county commissioners who were actually willing to stand up. But it has never been the majority of elected officials.
[00:12:10] Ariella Markowitz: Yeah, I mean, you mentioned, 'cause you know, we're talking about natural gas being burned and you mentioned, you know. A community that high rates of asthma, COPD, like can you just explain to our listeners what it's like to talk to people in your C in the community affected with these illnesses and how more increasing air pollution from these turbines really affects their day-to-day existence?
[00:12:38] Justin Pearson: Absolutely. So lemme help frame this as well. In this way, we're talking about thousands of tons of nitrogen oxide being spread into our air. 17.2 tons of formaldehyde from these machines. More pollution coming from XAI for an entire year, from June, 2024 until July, 2025 for an entire year, which is more pollution than the Memphis International Airport.
It's double what an airport. We have a pretty busy airport 'cause we have FedEx. Produces so know that's happening. And then you put that, uh, on top of box town. And I'll tell you a story of one, one person, uh, named Alexis, who previously she had asthma. She'd never had severe asthma attacks until XAI arrived and she started to have more severe asthma attacks and having to go to the, uh, primary care physician and to the er.
On a couple of occasions. We had relatives and loved ones in our community, in box town, uh, uh, Sam Knox, uh, older gentleman who already had some comorbidities. Um, but he had a respiratory attack, ended up in the hospital, and he tragically passed away. We, we can't say for sure a hundred percent that exci is the cause of that, but what we do know is the levels of pollution that they were emitting could cause death.
Could cause the increases in a lady who came to my town hall with the Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation related to X'S water permit, and she said, I'm 73. I walk three miles every single day. But three months ago I was diagnosed with asthma. For the first time in my life, something is happening to us.
And now they're planning to build 41 gas turbines in Mississippi. And even with all of the controls that they're, uh, saying they may be able to do, the levels of pollution are going to keep our community having an F in air quality for decades to come. It's gonna keep us out of attainment as it relates to the Environmental protection agency's recommended ground level ozone.
Like we have a real problem here and you can't tell me. People are talking about this is the greatest technology that ever exists and it's the most brilliant technology ever and it can't figure out how to operate on solar power. It can't figure out how to operate on battery storage. We can't figure out how to use different means and methods for being able to power these sources of energy without killing communities and taking our air away.
I just, I, I find that hard to believe, but if it is true, we need to make sure that we're regulating so that they can't kill in communities like they're doing now.
[00:15:27] Ariella Markowitz: Yeah. Now, tell me about this legal fight. Mm-hmm. Um, against these, those, you know, temporary turbine loophole. There was just this victory a few weeks ago, um, with the EPA.
[00:15:41] Justin Pearson: Mm-hmm.
[00:15:41] Ariella Markowitz: And yeah. Breakdown what was, what you guys were able to win.
[00:15:46] Justin Pearson: Yeah.
[00:15:46] Ariella Markowitz: But also, is it gonna make a difference and is it actually gonna, you know, bring some sort of equalization and justice to the neighborhood?
[00:15:54] Justin Pearson: Right. I mean, we need to real reparation from XAI, from our city of Memphis, from our county mayor, from, uh, the health department, uh, to be made to this community and to my constituents.
And we deserve an apology because our elected officials completely and utterly got this wrong. They cited on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce and Ted Towns. Against the people who I represent and the people who are impacted. The, the hundreds of thousands of people who are impacted across our city and across our county and across the state lines.
Even so there, there, there's still reparation that needs to be made by this company. And the couple of dollars that they've sent out for the Boys and Girls Club and things like that does not nearly meet the level that we need for it too, if I'm being honest with you. But then the other thing is, this is still a live issue in Mississippi where XAI is polluted is having terabytes there against the Clean Air Act.
It's a still very real and present issue. And so the fact that we were able to get this federal law, um, uh, uh, clarified and, uh, amended to specifically allow, uh, for our community's voice to be heard because of what they were doing was being illegal is a huge deal. I mean, I'm so proud of us. Uh, to be honest with you, we were right the whole time.
Even when everyone was saying, be quiet, don't protest, don't march, don't speak up. We had the largest hearing about air quality in Tennessee history. Right. Like our community did everything that it could to be heard and to prevent these illegal actions from happening. And though we were not able to stop our health department from operating unjustly, no.
We were not able to stop our mayors from supporting XAI. We weren't able to stop the Chamber of Commerce from spending thousands of dollars sending fake propaganda. But what we did do was give a tool to other communities, other activists, other organizers, other legislators to be able to fight in this, uh, uh, fight against data centers who are illegally polluting our communities, which is a significant and substantial win for us.
[00:17:55] Ariella Markowitz: Yeah. I mean, the thing that I'm hung up on about this whole story is just the swiftness in which a data center can just spring up in a neighborhood. You know, and it's, you know, encouraged by local lawmakers making these deals with the companies, you know, before communities have the chance to really weigh in.
So I mean, in your perspective, how should you know communities, local municipalities and people be able to have some control over how data centers are constructed in your neighborhood? What do you think the process should be for that?
[00:18:29] Justin Pearson: We need more transparency, quite frankly. Um, I have some colleagues who are working on some legislation related to data center transparency that I too, am working on and, and, and going to help them to amend to make sure that it is fitting, uh, the, the problems that we are seeing in our communities.
But we need more transparency and openness about what they're doing, how they're producing their energy, and making sure that communities are aware of what's happening. Many members of, uh, uh, appointed or elected officials. Uh, who are a part of this project signed non-disclosure agreements, uh, with XAI, which is just absurd.
They're taking public money to pay their salaries, but they're privately, uh, uh, contracting as not with signing non-disclosure agreement contracts with private companies. It's absurd and, and ridiculous. And so I think we have to demand more transparency. And for anybody who's worried about data centers, you need to reach out to your city counselor.
Now, your county commissioner, now, your state representatives, your state senators, your us, uh, house of Representatives member, your US senator, so that you can know what is their position. Where do you stand on this and what are you gonna do to protect us? Because there has to be something that you can do.
And at minimum, all of them can say, I'm gonna speak out against a data center coming into our community operating illegally and polluting the air that we breathe, making us sicker until they get the necessary permits, until they go through the necessary processes, which includes public input and public comment.
Unless that happens, I, I, I'm, I will rail against any project that is coming and we worked with the N-A-A-C-P to develop a framework for these companies to operate with. I looked at what Google did, you know, and, and they asked through some other channels, how can we make sure what XAI did we don't do.
And Google operated completely differently. In West Memphis, Arkansas, then XI, and that is because of the struggle that we went through and the, the advocacy, honestly, of my organizations that I've, I'm fortunate to partner with and friends, um, who, who led the fight.
[00:20:35] Ariella Markowitz: That's amazing that you're able to like actually create a model for how a company should do this.
Mm-hmm. In the same state, I mean, for you, what's like the total takeaway from this story?
[00:20:47] Justin Pearson: Yeah. I think the thing that I remember from many years ago when I was advocating for textbooks when I was 15 years old, and I still believe now, is people Power works. Uh, I, I bet on people more than any institution, any system, because institutions will fail you.
Systems can be corrupt, but people who are committed to the cause of justice, the cause of freedom, the right, every, everyone to have clean air, clean water, and clean soil that is pure. And we are doing this for love. It isn't for money, it isn't for fame, it isn't for any of those things. We stand up, we speak up, we sacrifice time, we make signs, we walk, we protest, we run for office, we govern, we legislate with love at the center of what we do, which is why people power prevails.
And every now and again, the institutions affirm those decisions, whether it be the Environmental Protection Agency under this administration, or whether it be corporations like the Baal Pipeline, uh, which was a multi-billion dollar project that folded because the resistance was so strong. And so there's this whole thing going around now trying to tell us if you all were just quieter, if you just whispered.
What your wants were. If you, if you, if you just didn't agitate, then things would somehow be better. It's not true. We need people who are an, uh, angelic dissenters to the status quo. Be that angelic dissenter. And if you don't see this happening in your community yet, get people in your community who are in positions of power to make a stand in advance so that you know where they stand.
And then take something that's even more approximate and work on that. But not quitting. We can never quit. 'cause we'd never quit. We can never lose.
[00:22:25] Ariella Markowitz: Mm. Thank you so much for your time in doing this.
[00:22:28] Justin Pearson: Thank you.
[00:22:29] Ariella Markowitz: Is there anything we missed that you'd wanna us to touch on?
[00:22:33] Justin Pearson: I mean, one of the most exciting things that happen, and this is what happens in movement work, um, my mama says is, you know, with the Dover method, bad God will turn into good.
We've had an organization called Tigers Against Pollution, uh, grow out of this when now hundreds of college age students focused on environmental and climate justice roads, uh, college students against pollution, lemoine, oil college students and HBCU who are working against pollution, even a magicians against pollution group.
Uh, we have young people who are 15 and 16 showing up at hearings and speaking up from high schools that are being impacted. We are building power, uh, to, to, to meet the status quo. And in this case, we were able to beat the status quo. Um, even when it was a railing and fighting against us, we were right.
And so that, that's what people need to remember now, is not the time to quit or give in even when your mayor is against you, even when the newspapers are against you, even when the news stations are against you, even when people aren't paying attention, like you keep speaking up, you keep standing up, and you keep fighting for what you know to be right.
[00:23:34] Ariella Markowitz: Justin J. Pearson, thank you so much for being on the show and for, yeah, for your time today.
[00:23:40] Justin Pearson: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you.
[00:23:44] Ariella Markowitz: Thanks for listening to this special bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, and thank you for your support. You make our work possible. We'll be back next week with a new episode of Lever Time. ///
s. e. anderson
author of The Black Holocaust for Beginners
www.blackeducator.org
"If WORK was good for you, the rich would leave none for the poor." (Haiti)
--------------------------------------------