A Memphis woman’s passionate video is drawing national attention to allegations of environmental harm caused by a supercomputing facility operated by Elon Musk’s X.AI.
The video, which has now gone viral, accuses Musk’s company of polluting air and water in one of the poorest and Blackest areas of Memphis—South Memphis.
Standing outside the facility, the woman refers to Musk as a “South African scammer” and claims the supercomputer operation is “making the community sick.”
She alleges the facility currently operates with 35 gas turbines, emitting a stench so strong it has affected residents’ quality of life. According to her, the Southern Poverty Law Center has suggested the operation may be in violation of the federal Clean Air Act.
“This isn’t just going to impact the people around here,” the woman says in the video. “We all breathe the same air, and we all drink the same water.”
One of the most alarming claims centers around water usage. The X.AI facility allegedly uses approximately one million gallons of water per day for cooling, drawing from Memphis’s renowned natural aquifer, which provides some of the nation’s cleanest groundwater. The speaker acknowledges a proposed partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build a gray water recycling system but argues that it would only reduce strain on the aquifer by about 9%.
She also raises concerns about where the excess water is going.
“They’re still gonna dump about 80% of that water into the Mississippi River,” she says. “Who knows what that will do to the environment?”
Beyond environmental concerns, the video issues a direct call to action to Memphis leaders, accusing the project of being a form of environmental racism.
“They have purposely put this facility here in a Black city in America… because they wanna get away with all of these clean air and clean water violations,” she says.
Environmental activists and community advocates have long warned about the threat to Memphis’s aquifer. The area has become a flashpoint in broader debates around environmental justice, especially as tech companies expand their physical infrastructure into historically underserved communities.
The woman’s video, which includes the message “we’re watching you, Memphis City Council,” ends with a stark challenge to local and national leaders: “Do you really want to attach your name to another failure by Elon Musk that is put out to harm people?”
Neither X.AI nor Elon Musk has responded publicly to the video as of press time. Memphis city officials have also not released an official statement.
