Elon Musk's xAI wants to build a power plant in Mississippi. Regulators plan a key meeting on Election Day

The NAACP has accused Mississippi regulators of rushing a meeting to approve xAI plans for a massive, methane-burning power plant in Southaven.

With Elon Musk's xAI planning to build a massive, natural-gas burning power plant in Southaven, Mississippi, the state's environmental authority has scheduled a board meeting for Tuesday — Election Day for the 2026 primaries — to decide whether to grant the company key permits.

The NAACP and other civil rights and environmental advocates tried to get the meeting delayed, arguing that it was being rushed and would conflict with some residents' efforts to vote. The groups also said that by holding the meeting in Jackson, nearly 200 miles away from Southaven, those directly affected by the plant are impeded from attending.

"This is not only a civic duty conundrum, but an unnecessary financial burden to Black residents and individuals who live in low-income and other communities near the facility," the NAACP wrote in a letter to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) that's dated March 8, but was released publicly on Monday.