xAI offers Southaven homeowners buyouts in exchange for dropping noise claims
The offers come as a separate NAACP suit over unpermitted gas turbines moves forward, and the company denies that the site breaches local noise limits.
Elon Musk's xAI, through its subsidiary MZX, is reportedly offering to buy hundreds of homes in Southaven, Mississippi, on the condition that owners sign away their right to join a lawsuit over noise and vibrations from a nearby data center and gas-fired power plant. A realtor reportedly told one resident the company intends to purchase 418 homes, and tenants say landlords who agreed to sell have already given them 60 days to leave. The company denies the allegations, saying it has cut power output and installed sound-dampening walls, and the Southaven mayor says city monitors have not recorded a breach of the 70-decibel local limit. The buyout comes amid mounting scrutiny, including a separate NAACP suit over unpermitted methane turbines that a federal judge recently refused to dismiss, and a reported $6.1 million in potential civil penalties for environmental violations.
Why it matters
For residents near the Southaven site, the offers put a price on their right to join a noise lawsuit, and the outcome will show how much weight local noise rules and litigation carry against a large industrial neighbour. Readers following AI infrastructure should watch whether the buyouts settle the dispute or whether the NAACP case, which a federal judge has allowed to proceed, becomes the main test of the company's operations there.
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