DAVID BLACKMON: Enviros Head To Memphis For Another Attack On American Industry

The subject of the rapid growth of AI technology, its associated data centers, and how they will source the electricity required to meet their massive power needs has been one of hottest topics of discussion in the energy space for a year now.

While many, like me, have commented at length about the logistics and technical issues involved in this rapidly expanding growth industry, few have thought about the role crass politics and radical activism will both inevitably play.

In recent weeks, a veritable poster child example of how cynical – and often dishonest – activism can intervene in and threaten to supersede these logistical and technical matters has arisen in Memphis, Tenn. There, xAI, the tech company responsible for the creation and maintenance of the Grok AI tool featured at Elon Musk-owned X, operates a major datacenter.

While waiting to be connected into the regional power grid managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), xAI has obtained its own behind-the-meter electricity from a suite of portable natural gas generators.

From a logistical and technical standpoint, the use of clean and reliable gas generation presents a perfectly reasonable solution to an increasingly common problem as queues for grid interconnections across the country continue to expand. But, for conflict groups, it presents an opening to raise money based on cynical – and too often false – claims related to climate change, climate justice, and equity.

The City of Memphis government and xAI have been slammed in recent weeks with fright narratives mounted by the