Mississippi Residents Sue Elon Musk's xAI Data Center Over 'Constant' Noise Driving Them From Their Homes

Mississippi Residents Sue Elon Musk's xAI Over 'Constant' Noise From Data Center Power Plant

SOURCE: CBS NEWS · PUBLISHED JULY 2026

It was 4 a.m. on a Sunday, and 46-year-old Jason Haley was once again wide awake. The suburban silence he had grown used to in his two decades as a resident of Southaven, Mississippi had, for the last few months, been replaced by a constant whirring — "like an airplane hovering over my home," he said.

The noise was coming from a plant powering Elon Musk's xAI data centers in the area, according to a lawsuit filed in June against the company and its subsidiary, MZX Tech. Haley and two other Southaven residents, who live within a mile of the plant, allege that "near-constant" noise and vibrations are causing negative physical and psychological health effects.

The Lawsuit: Sleepless Nights, Ringing Ears, Migraines

The filing comes amid growing resistance toward data center development, with the majority of Americans opposing local construction of a data center, according to a Gallup poll published earlier this year.

Similar disputes are playing out across the country:

• In Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, a lawsuit this month alleges a data center emits "unreasonable and excessive noise" onto residents' properties.
• In Lowell, Massachusetts, noise from a data center's cooling center "disrupts neighbors' sleep," according to an April suit.

There are more than 4,000 data centers in the U.S., according to a recent United Nations report. To power them, developers are building their own plants — sometimes with little warning to residents like Haley.

"I Don't Care That This Is Elon's Project"

Just north of Southaven, which sits on the Mississippi–Tennessee border, xAI's data center Colossus went online in Memphis in September 2024. The company dubbed it "the world's largest AI supercomputer." By late July 2025, Musk was announcing that Colossus 2 was set to begin operation within weeks.

By December, the noise had become a fixture for Haley. He started getting headaches, stopped getting sleep, and slipped into feelings of hopelessness and depression. The noise was inescapable, he said — despite sleeping with earplugs and getting a box fan for white noise, it continued to drone on.

So Haley began speaking up — at city government meetings, on Facebook, and through TikTok, where he posts videos of himself measuring the noise with a sound meter. He later became involved in a grassroots coalition called Safe and Sound, drawing awareness to concerns surrounding xAI's undertakings in the region.

When he emailed Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite about the noise again in December, his message came with a disclosure:

"I am not a republican or democrat, I don't care that this is Elon's project. I didn't know whose it was when I started complaining about the noise that started in August."
— Jason Haley, Southaven resident

By January, xAI was expanding its footprint with a third data center in Southaven, MACROHARDDR. Musselwhite, in a Facebook post, said Southaven was "under attack by all who choose to oppose Elon Musk because of his high-profile political stances" and warned residents to "beware of the smokescreen of radical politics."

Yet in his emails to Haley, Musselwhite continued to acknowledge the noise as a problem — and offered a striking piece of advice:

"I know they want houses for employees, so you may want to consider selling your home."
— Mayor Darren Musselwhite, to resident Jason Haley

CBS News made multiple attempts to speak with Musselwhite and did not receive a reply.

Migraines, Ringing Ears, and Sleepless Nights

A little over a decade ago, 31-year-old Taylor Logsdon bought a home for her growing family in Southaven. "We loved it here," she said. "It was peaceful, it was quiet, didn't have to worry about nothing."

That was before the noise — so loud, she said, that it sometimes shakes her home. Logsdon, who is also involved in the Safe and Sound coalition and is suing xAI with Haley, said she has experienced migraines and anxiety, with persistent ringing in her ears — and so do her children.

"One of them is extra angry all the time — never, never has been that way, but he's just irritable like all the time. I feel like I'm snappier too."
— Taylor Logsdon, on her children's symptoms

Her children, all under the age of 13, are having trouble staying awake at school. xAI spent millions of dollars trying to mitigate the sound with a sound wall, a berm, and evergreen trees, Musselwhite said in a February Facebook post.

"It still hasn't helped. It hasn't even put a dent in it."
— Taylor Logsdon

People living in areas where there is "constant humming or buzzing" report headaches, stress, and sleep disturbance, said Dr. Samoon Ahmad, a clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University. A 2023 study found that environmental noise exposure can lead to adverse associations for cardiovascular disease and mortality, diabetes, hearing impairment, neurological disorders, and adverse reproductive outcomes.

The World Health Organization recommends less than 40 decibels of annual average nighttime noise outside of bedrooms to prevent adverse health effects. Haley has recorded noise levels over 60 decibels as late as 10:15 p.m. from his Southaven backyard.

Musk's Memphis: The NAACP Lawsuit and Air Pollution Concerns

Even before Logsdon and Haley decided to take action, Musk's growing presence in the Memphis area had drawn attention from advocacy groups over health and environmental concerns.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit in April against xAI, claiming the Southaven plant emits "significant" amounts of harmful pollutants from its gas turbines — which started at 27 and has since increased to 59 turbines, according to a court filing reviewed by CBS News. The NAACP has also filed an appeal to challenge the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality's decision to issue an air permit allowing the Southaven plant to operate 41 permanent methane gas turbines.

An independent study found the turbines' operation would increase air pollution in an area already grappling with high asthma rates.

Why This Matters Here

This is exactly the kind of story this site exists to document: a community pushed to its breaking point by a data center it never asked for, residents reporting measurable health harms, a mayor more interested in managing perception than solving the problem, and a federal permitting system allowing 59 methane gas turbines next to homes.

As environmental advocate Erin Brockovich — who is tracking over 8,000 community reports of data center impacts nationwide at brockovichdatacenter.com — told the Shawn Ryan Show: "I don't know why we wouldn't pay attention to the very people living, breathing, and experiencing these issues as to what the hell is happening in their backyard."

If you're living near a data center and have a story to tell, submit it to Brockovich's registry and to our own community forum. Every documented voice adds to the record that institutions can no longer ignore.

Sources & Citations

• • CBS News — "Mississippi residents sue Elon Musk's xAI data center over 'constant' noise" (primary source)
• • Gallup — Majority of Americans oppose local data center construction
• • United Nations University — The Environmental Cost of AI (2026)
• • PubMed (2023) — Environmental noise exposure and adverse health outcomes
• • World Health Organization — Noise fact sheet (nighttime noise guidelines)
• • Southern Environmental Law Center — Study on xAI gas plant air pollution impacts
• • Safe and Sound Coalition — community advocacy group
• • Brockovich Data Center Registry — Erin Brockovich's nationwide data center impact map

Source: CBS News · Reporting on xAI data center noise lawsuit, Southaven, Mississippi