The records · The upcoming hearing
Every record behind the essay on Mississippi's upcoming hearing on xAI's turbines
These are the records the essay is built on. Most come from MDEQ, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which released them to me in answer to my records requests, or posted them publicly. The rest are from the federal court file in the NAACP's lawsuit. Read them yourself. If I got something wrong, these are the pages that will show it.
The pages that matter, marked up
Each one outlines the passage the essay relies on, in red, on the page it actually sits on. Tap to open the full image.
The hearing
When, where and who.
The minutes that set the hearing
The signed minutes of the Permit Board's June 9th, 2026 meeting, posted by MDEQ as a scanned file. Page 8 says the MZX Tech evidentiary hearing is scheduled for November 10th, 2026, and that Kim Turner of the Attorney General's Office will serve as hearing officer. It gives no place or time. This is page 8 only.
MDEQ's answer on the time and place
I emailed MDEQ on October 1st, 2026 to ask when and where the hearing is. Its legal office answered the same afternoon: the hearing will be held November 9th and 10th, starting at 9 AM both days, at MDEQ's office at 515 East Amite Street in Jackson. It is open to the public, with limited seats in the hearing room and an overflow area. There is no remote viewing option. Whether a notice will be posted was not yet known. That email is in my records file.
The modeling
Which monitor, and what was left out.
MDEQ tells xAI's consultant that closest isn't enough
MDEQ's response to the revised modeling plan. It notes the consultant picked the Hernando monitor for fine particle pollution as the closest, and answers that "Proximity to the facility/project site is not enough justification when selecting a background monitor." Five pages.
MDEQ says the Hernando monitor is over the limit
MDEQ's comments on a later version of the modeling plan, after Hernando had been dropped for fine particles. Page 3 says "the Hernando monitor in DeSoto County is exceeding the 2024 PM2.5 annual standard of 9 µg/m³." The final permit used the Shelby Farms monitor in Memphis for fine particles. Four pages.
Two sets of turbines
The permit and the running fleet.
None of the 57 turbines on site are in the permit
Paragraph 54 of Kim Laufenberg's amended declaration, filed for the plaintiffs: "I compared the 57 turbines at the site to the 41 turbines in the permit... None of the 57 turbines currently observed on-site are included in that permit."
"No, none of these will be."
xAI's consultant answers MDEQ's questions about nine more portable turbines. Asked whether they will be included in the permanent turbine cluster in the permit application, the answer is "No, none of these will be." Three pages. The consultant's mobile phone number is blacked out by me. Company and government contacts are left in.
MDEQ's air chief says construction is not complete
Jaricus Whitlock, chief of MDEQ's Air Division, after the consultant withdrew construction certifications for five permanent turbines: the units are still in a manufacturer's commissioning phase, "are not in a state in which they can be activated," and "I interpret construction as not yet being complete." Two pages. The consultant's mobile number is blacked out by me.
The runtime table
The company's own table of average daily run hours for each portable turbine. In June 2026, fifteen units averaged 20 hours a day or more, and one ran every hour of the month. From the MDEQ production. The consultant's mobile number is blacked out by me.
How much pollution
The numbers from both sides.
xAI's own expert: 4,590 tons a year potential
Table 1 of the defendants' expert declaration totals the potential to emit for 60 mobile units at 4,590.47 tons a year of nitrogen oxides. Potential means every unit running at full output all year. It is not a measurement of what was emitted, and the declaration says so.
Who decided it was OK
MDEQ, the deal and the state's brief.
MDEQ's mobile-source determination
MDEQ's one-page letter to xAI. It treats the portable turbines as "mobile" and "temporary" and, contingent on both, "acknowledges that the referenced turbines are exempt from permitting requirements."
The first draft of the deal, written by xAI's lawyers
MDEQ released the draft agreed order that xAI's lawyers sent its director on July 22nd, 2026, as a Word file. I converted it to a PDF so it can be read in a browser. Nothing in the text is changed. Paragraph 2.A already carries the sentence that the unpermitted operation "has not violated Mississippi air permitting requirements."
The agreed order as signed
The signed order, ten pages with its turbine-by-turbine retirement schedule. Paragraph 2.A keeps the "has not violated" sentence word for word. Page 3 says the permanent turbines are delayed by "supply chain challenges" and lets 13 temporary turbines run through December 31st, 2026. A notary's phone numbers are blacked out by me.
The state's brief backing MDEQ
Filed by the Attorney General's office. Page 13 says MDEQ's decision "does not purport to apply a standalone exemption for ‘temporary’ sources" and cites only the mobile-source rule.
The clock before the hearing
The thirty-day memo
The Agriculture Commissioner's memo, attached to the Permit Board's July 14th, 2026 minutes. It asks data center operators for information "at least thirty (30) days prior to any public hearing or vote" on their MDEQ permits. Whether it reaches a hearing on a permit that already exists is not stated. Pages 14 and 15 of the minutes.
When the turbines change over
Permanent on, temporary off.
Removal report 4
The company's fourth two-week report under the agreed order: "No turbines were retired nor removed in the previous two (2) week period." Nine pages, with the emissions test notice. The consultant's mobile number is blacked out by me.
A start of construction notice with an anticipated startup date
The form the company files when it starts building a permanent turbine. Box 7, "Anticipated Date of Startup," reads December 27th, 2026 for unit AB-007. It is an expected date, not a report that the turbine started. The consultant's mobile number is blacked out by me. The company contact on the form is left in.
What is under seal
The defendants' memorandum asking the court to seal parts of a declaration. Page 4 describes what is being kept from the public, including "the projected timeline for bringing permanent power generation assets online at the Stanton Road site."
"No scenario"
Page 23 of MDEQ's response to public comments on the permit, explaining why the 27 portable turbines then on site were outside the permit: "there is no scenario in which MZX will operate sixty-eight (68) combustion turbines." The response is about 1,600 pages. This is page 23 only.
Back to the essay · the case board
Think I got something wrong? Check the records, then tell me. That's the whole point.