Shocked, Shocked!! EPA & CDC Websites Tracking Pollution Go Dark; Had Been Used To Monitor Grok, SpaceX Operations
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Several federal agencies, including the EPA and CDC, previously published data regarding pollution levels across the country, as well as data about the vulnerability of each census tract, such as poverty rates and life expectancy. Several of the websites containing that data have gone dark in the weeks following Trump’s inauguration.
Some, such as the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, came back online on 11 February following a court order, though they now include a note that the administration and department “reject” the pages.
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Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, began building the world’s largest supercomputer, dubbed “Colossus”, in South Memphis, Tennessee, over the summer. The facility began operating in December to train Musk’s chatbot, Grok. To power the vast data center, xAI has been operating 15 gas turbines. The gas turbines pump pollutants such as formaldehyde and nitrous oxide into the surrounding primarily Black neighborhood, campaigners say. A permit application to operate the turbines filed last month indicates the turbines’ annual hazardous air pollutants of up to 11.51 tons over 12 months could exceed the EPA’s allowed maximum of 10 tons, according to the figures listed in the application.
Attorneys from the non-profit Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) used EJScreen to establish that South Memphis, where the xAI facility was built, already suffers from a disproportionately high pollution burden. The census tract is in the 90th percentile in the US for “toxic releases to air”, and neighboring tracts are within the 95th percentile for ozone, according to EJScreen data that has now been preserved by archivists. The SELC campaign says that the gas turbines used by xAI will further worsen ground level ozone, better known as smog.
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Musk’s SpaceX is seeking permission to launch starships from the Kennedy Space Center. The company’s application for a commercial launch vehicle operator license to launch their Starship Super Heavy is still pending with the FAA. Its application is opposed by various environmental groups and advocates, including the Southeastern Fisheries Association, who have urged the FAA to consider environmental justice and the project’s “substantial impacts to disadvantaged communities”. That application must pass several steps first – including an environmental permit review. In EPA comments to the FAA, the agency “strongly” urged the FAA to use the now-deleted EJScreen tool during their environmental review, in order to account for environmental justice. If the FAA were still able to use the tool, it would find the area where SpaceX intends to launch Starships is among the 88th percentile for cancer rates for adults. Some of Musk’s Starships have exploded during flight, creating vast clouds of metal particulates, which have been linked to lung cancer.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/24/federal-climate-tools-pollution-musk-xai-spacex