“For instance, if all the 35 turbines operated by xAI were using” add-on air contamination control innovation “to achieve a NOx emission rate of 2 ppm”– as xAI’s specialist concurred 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 stated.

Presumably, all of xAI’s active turbines “continue to operate without utilizing best available control technology” (BACT) and “there is no dispute” that because xAI has yet to acquire allowing, it’s not fulfilling BACT requirements today, the letter stated.

“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 stated.

Furthermore, xAI’s turbines are thought about a significant source of a harmful air contaminant, formaldehyde, the letter stated, with “the potential to emit more than 16 tons” because xAI operations started. “xAI was required to conduct initial emissions testing for formaldehyde within 180 days of becoming a major source,” the letter declared, however it appears that a year after moving into Memphis, still “xAI has not conducted this testing.”

Regards to xAI’s allowing exemption stay unclear

The NAACP and SELC recommended that the exemption that xAI is relatively running under might be a “nonroad engine exemption.” They declared that xAI’s turbines do not certify for that yearlong exemption, and even if they did, any turbines still onsite after a year would undoubtedly not be covered and must have allowing 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,” SELC’s news release declared.