SpaceX faces House Energy Committee demand to tour its AI data centers in Memphis

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is demanding that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk provide a tour of his company’s xAI data centers and power plants in and around Memphis, Tennessee.

“Americans are concerned about what data centers and Big Tech’s push for more AI means for their communities, jobs, property values, and future,” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) wrote in a letter to Musk on Wednesday. “Electricity prices are skyrocketing, the electric grid is strained, our clean air and water are being polluted, and noise is wearing on communities’ health and patience.”

Public opposition to data centers is rising in the U.S. after xAI’s buildout in Memphis, and with others underway from OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and Google. Gallup found in a survey published in May that seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of an AI data center in their local area, with 48% strongly opposed.

Pallone has demanded information about Musk’s facilities by Aug. 11.

SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment.

SpaceX’s artificial intelligence facilities, known as Colossus and Colossus 2, include three data centers packed with cutting-edge Nvidia processors. They were built by xAI, before SpaceX acquired Musk’s startup, which is the developer of Grok’s AI models, chatbot and image editing tools.

The facilities are at the heart of SpaceX’s AI ambitions, as the company tries to compete with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, and to eventually build orbital data centers.

Pallone excoriated SpaceX and Musk for a “disregard for the health and well-being of local communities.” He said the company has created “a massive health risk” to neighbors by “trucking in off-grid gas turbines” to power the facilities, all without the proper permits and pollution controls.

President Trump’s Department of Justice has filed a motion to intervene, and to effectively help xAI fight off a lawsuit, which was filed by environmental advocates and the NAACP in Mississippi to stop the company’s use of allegedly illegal, air-polluting turbines.

“The Trump Administration has essentially claimed that it alone decides whether SpaceXAI and other companies get a free pass to pollute unimpeded,” Pallone wrote. “But just because the Trump Administration will bend over backward to give tech companies free rein over community air, water, and land does not make your actions legal.”

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, enacted legislation earlier this month to ensure data center operators pay a fair share for electricity, instead of shifting costs to residents and businesses.

Read the letter here.