The records · the batteries essay

Every record behind the batteries essay

These are the records the essay xAI's Tesla Megapacks sit over the aquifer. Shelby County never planned for them. is built on, hosted here as they came back, so you can read them yourself. The marked-up pages at the top show where each fact lives. The full files are underneath. If you're doing this in your own town, this is what a records request looks like when it comes back.

The pages that matter, marked up

Each one outlines the passage the essay quotes, with a caption saying what it says and where it is.

Shelby County's response: no responsive records on battery storage

The 2021 hazard plan's contents page, listing five hazards - only four sections were written

July 2026 minutes: gearing up for Hazard Mitigation Plan 2027

September 2025 minutes: the only lithium discussion

July 2024 agenda: the air regulator and the consultants

The job posting that owns the fire and life-safety case

The full records

Shelby County · public records response

The county's answer to request A17508-26, August 19, 2026

Seven answers, item by item. "No responsive records" on battery storage in the plan, on any risk assessment naming 3231 Paul R. Lowry, and on Tier II chemical reports. I left my own name and address off.

The county's email (PDF)

Shelby County · the plan itself

Shelby County Hazard Mitigation Plan, 2020 Update, adopted 2021

The FEMA-approved plan the county sent. 246 pages. Four hazards - and a fifth, Communicable Diseases, listed on its contents page with no such section anywhere in the document. The words battery, lithium and energy storage do not appear in its text.

The plan (PDF, 18 MB)

Shelby County · Local Emergency Planning Committee

Twenty-three agendas and minutes, November 2023 to July 2026

Every committee record the county produced, in date order. Rendered from the county's Word files with the text unchanged. One personal phone number and one private email address are redacted. Two files carry the wrong year in the county's own heading; the date here is the one the content proves.

City of Memphis · permit portal

The permit records, as the portal listed them on September 5, 2026

The portal's own exports of every record at each address. Not one fire inspection record at the xAI addresses; one at the school on Tulane. Plus the Phase 2 and 3 Megapack permit page, status Issued, with contact details removed.

3231 Paul R. Lowry, 154 records (CSV)5420 Tulane, 76 (CSV)5414 Tulane, 11 (CSV)5250 Tulane, the school, 37 (CSV)Permit COM-NEW-26-000102, issued (PDF)

xAI · job posting

Lead Engineer (Battery Storage), Memphis, posted August 18, 2026

The full posting as captured from the company's public job board on September 1, 2026, text unchanged.

The posting (PDF)On the company's board

Think I got something wrong? Check the records, then tell me. That's the whole point.