Mississippi Mayor Allegedly Tells Resident To “Consider Selling” Home Amid Noise Complaints About Plant Powering Nearby Data Centers

Residents of a Mississippi town are voicing fierce opposition to a plant that powers data centers operated by Elon Musk’s xAI, alleging that “near-constant” noise is causing harmful physical and psychological health effects.

One Southaven resident said the plant is so loud that it keeps her and her family awake at night.

She said a full night’s sleep is rare.

Multiple residents who live near the plant have filed a lawsuit against xAI.

A separate lawsuit filed by the NAACP and others alleges the Southaven plant emits “significant amounts of harmful pollutants from its gas turbines.”

Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite has defended the plant despite the pushback.

Watch below:

The noise from a plant powering Elon Musk's xAI data centers in Mississippi is keeping residents awake and destroying their quality of life.

Residents of Southaven, MS, have organized, gone to hearings, and talked to media.

But so far the mayor's advice is: "Consider selling." pic.twitter.com/vXnTUXm17N

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) July 17, 2026

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One resident, Jason Haley, made noise complaints about the plant to Musselwhite and shared the email exchange with CBS News.

Haley said he reached out to Musselwhite and urged him to drive through the neighborhood “and take a listen to the constant high pitch noises.”

“I am aware of the noise and working on a solution with xAI officials,” Musselwhite responded, according to CBS News.

“It is a problem,” he said in another email.

However, Haley reached back out to Musselwhite.

“Anyone else I can reach out to?” Haley asked Musselwhite.

“It’s almost 4 am and I can hear it from my bed. The high pitch and roaring combined is full force at this time. My ears are ringing. I can’t live in this. How was this ever approved?” Haley wrote, according to the outlet.

Elon Musk's company xAI has installed 59 natural gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi, to power its Colossus 2 data center in Tennessee. In one local neighborhood, the turbines can be heard around the clock https://t.co/ohbpa4E4E9 pic.twitter.com/P8Mi3wAUUd

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 14, 2026

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CBS News shared further:

When he emailed 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.”

Musselwhite responded a few days later.

“As I mentioned to you in the public meeting, you seem to be a reasonable person,” he said. “I will give you some unsolicited advice from an older man, be careful with whom you associate so you don’t damage your credibility.”

By January, xAI was expanding its footprint with a third data center in Southaven, MACROHARDDR. As residents like Haley continued pushing back online and in city meetings, Musselwhite had a new message.

Southaven, he said in a Facebook post, was “under attack by all who choose to oppose Elon Musk because of his high-profile political stances.” He warned residents to “beware of the smokescreen of radical politics.”

In his emails to Haley, Musselwhite continued to acknowledge the noise as a problem.

“The noise issue is one of my highest priorities and I have been in detailed discussions with xAI and many independent professionals to resolve this,” he wrote in March.

But in the same email, he offered Haley more advice: “I know they want houses for employees, so you may want to consider selling your home.”

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In September 2024, xAI’s data center Colossus went online in Memphis, just north of Southaven.

Elon Musk announced in July 2025 that Colossus 2 would “start going online in a few weeks.”

230k GPUs, including 30k GB200s, are operational for training Grok @xAI in a single supercluster called Colossus 1 (inference is done by our cloud providers).

At Colossus 2, the first batch of 550k GB200s & GB300s, also for training, start going online in a few weeks.

As Jensen… https://t.co/bLvr4aS23J

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2025

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“This global tech giant has unveiled plans to make Southaven, Mississippi their next key expansion for artificial intelligence operations. In 2024, the world’s largest supercomputer, Colossus, became operational near President’s Island in Memphis, Tennessee. After acquiring their second facility just north of the Mississippi state line, property in Southaven’s industrial zone became ideal for further expansion,” Musselwhite announced in August 2025.

“The former Duke Energy facility will become functional again after decades of vacancy to meet the electricity demands of these artificial intelligence operations,” he added.

Local residents have opposed the turbines for months.

Mississippi residents are fighting Elon Musk and his polluting AI company.

xAI is burning dozens of turbines in Southaven, polluting the area and harming neighborhoods.

But residents are packing hearings, organizing, and pushing back. pic.twitter.com/zTgbJ2UuCK

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) February 23, 2026

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CNBC has more:

In June, SpaceX pulled off a record-setting IPO, with AI and its Colossus I and II facilities at the heart of its growth narrative.

Google, Anthropic and Reflection AI have all inked agreements with SpaceX to rent excess computing capacity at Colossus and Colossus II, deals worth up to $2.32 billion per month.

Residents don’t feel the same benefits. Several told CNBC that SpaceXAI never consulted with them about their plans before they broke ground, though it was clear the data centers would profoundly impact nearby neighborhoods.

Today, the noise from Colossus II and its gas-burning turbines is “like a form of torture,” said Jason Haley of Southaven, Miss., whose house is within a mile of the site. Southaven is part of the Greater Memphis area.

Opposition to data centers is rising, and not just against xAI, but also in response to developments planned or underway from Microsoft, Meta, Google, OpenAI and other so-called hyperscalers.

In May, seven in 10 Americans said they oppose the construction of data centers for AI in their local area, according to a Gallup poll. Nearly half, or 48%, said they were strongly opposed.

Even Musk has acknowledged the public distaste for AI data centers and power plants to run them.

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The post Mississippi Mayor Allegedly Tells Resident To “Consider Selling” Home Amid Noise Complaints About Plant Powering Nearby Data Centers appeared first on 100PercentFedUp.com.

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[H/T 100PercentFedUp]