State Rep. Justin Pearson and community leaders demand action against xAI project, air pollution in Memphis
State Representative Justin Pearson called out multiple City of Memphis and Shelby County officials over their silence amid xAI project.
Author: Desmond Nugent
Published: 9:32 PM CDT May 9, 2025
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — State Representative Justin Pearson is sounding the alarm once again, this time with renewed urgency, as fellow lawmakers and community advocates join him to demand action against the air quality in Memphis and Shelby County.
Pearson claims some of the health risks his constituents have endured are linked to the controversial xAI project and a broader pattern of environmental neglect.
During a press conference on Friday, Pearson and others called out city and county officials of failing to uphold their duty to protect residents from industrial air pollution. Pearson stood alongside environmental advocates and affected community members.
“You wanna placate as though we’re some toy or play thing, but we ain’t playin. We deserve clean air in Memphis and Shelby County,” Pearson said.
According to Pearson, the Shelby County Health Department have yet to enforce The Clean Air Act, which is a comprehensive federal law aimed at regulating air emissions from stationary and mobile sources to protect public health and the environment.
The focus of community frustration Pearson said goes beyond the xAI project. He cited 17 polluting facilities operating in heavily impacted neighborhoods such as Whitehaven, Boxtown and South Memphis, areas Pearson has been long plagued by environmental injustice.
“They haven’t done it since Dr. Taylor got in office, since Mayor Lee Harris has been in office. They haven’t done anything to improve the air quality of the people,” he said.
Alexis Arinze, a Midtown resident, she sees the health impacts of pollution daily. She said her older sister has asthma.
“We can tell a difference in the air; there’s pollution going on that’s getting worse. I feel like for people with serious respiratory illnesses it’s going to get worse for them,” Arinze said.
Arinze said as a healthcare worker, she’s witnessed the problems the pollution has created throughout Shelby County.
“I see it where people go in the hospital, their lungs, they don’t have good lung capacity to breath well, and I don’t know if that’s specific to air pollution, but it’s definitely not helping making it better,” she said.
Tensions have risen over what Pearson described as a lack of transparency regarding the xAI project.
He expressed confusion and concern that the Memphis Chamber of Commerce has acted as the public face of the initiative, rather than elected or regulatory officials.
“xAI through the chambers says something and then we find new information,” Pearson said. “They said it was 15 gas turbines and 20 of them were being stored, and then the next day we learn 33 of them were in operation.”
Pearson said that if their concerns continue to go unheard, he warned of intensified action, including civil disobedience and large-scale protests.
“You can anticipate and expect some very substantial civil disobedience,” he said. “You can expect some very significant marches up and down the streets of Memphis and Shelby County.”
The Shelby County Health Department declined to comment on what their decision will be to permit gas turbines for the xAI project.
Pearson said he plans to formally address his concerns in a letter to the Health Department and Mayor Harris, urging them to prioritize public health over corporate interests.