They held their Mississippi land for generations. Then Musk's data center buildout pushed them out.

SOUTHAVEN, Mississippi — Krystal Polk can pinpoint the moment the land her family has owned for generations became difficult to live on. It was about a year ago, when a power plant across the street began running around the clock. Now, she says, the sound is impossible to escape.

Polk, 52, is part of a family that has held the same two acres on the Mississippi-Tennessee border for four generations. They raised chickens and pigs, grew onions and herbs, and traded peaches for pears with neighbors. It was, she said, a simple life that sustained them.

The property has never been easy to keep. She said the family acquired it “before people of color were allowed to have land.” When her parents moved in, they found the letters “KKK” scrawled at the bottom of the hill, she said. The land was passed down anyway, a source of stability across decades.

A year ago, that stability was tested by a new neighbor: a power plant built to support Elon Musk's SpaceXAI data centers in the Memphis area. The plant sits across the street, and its steady roar has driven Polk's relatives out. Since then, the property has sat mostly empty, occupied only by an unrelenting hum.

“It's like you're in the middle of the airport where the planes are taking off, but they never take off,” she said.

The noise and air quality concerns have set off a community backlash. The resident-run Safe and Sound Coalition has gathered more than 1,400 signatures on a petition calling for the plant to be shut down. Polk said she used to sit at the house and hear birds. These days, the only constant sound is the plant.

SpaceXAI, formerly known as xAI, announced in July that it was spending millions on sound walls and silencers with “advanced quieting technologies” around the plant. Residents say the one sound wall installed so far has done little to ease the noise.

The dispute is playing out against a rapid regional expansion. Musk built his Colossus 1 data center just north of Southaven in 2024. By January 2026, the company had announced two more data centers, and in July he confirmed another, called “Minihard,” in a post on X.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has described the projects as a generational opportunity. In a statement, he said the more than $20 billion in SpaceXAI investments would “bring amazing opportunities to its residents for generations.”

But for Polk, the development has made it harder to hold on to what her family built. She moved away after getting married, and for years the house passed between relatives. It was where she churned ice cream as a child, where she held her rehearsal dinner, and where the family gathered every holiday.

“We gathered there and we thanked God for what we had,” she said. “It was always a celebration.”

She had planned to move back when she retired and eventually leave the property to her children. Those plans are now on hold. Polk said she and her family have asthma and worry about fumes from the gas turbines operating 24/7.

“I'm afraid that we will be the ones that everyone looks back on and says, ‘Hey, remember they tried to tell us that these things were hazardous to our health and causing harm,’” she said. “I'm afraid that we're going to be those casualties.”

The legal fight has added another layer. In April, the NAACP and other groups sued xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech, alleging the plant “emits significant amounts of harmful pollutants.” SpaceXAI moved to dismiss the case in June, and the U.S. Justice Department moved to intervene. The department said the case touched on national security and could hinder the War Department's use of AI for national defense.

SpaceXAI did not respond to requests for comment. The company reached an agreement with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to remove 69 temporary turbines at the plant and replace them with 41 permanent turbines over the course of a year.

But a study by EmPower Analytics Group, an independent firm that analyzes the health impact of AI infrastructure, found that the plan would increase air pollution in the area and that the burden would fall on communities that are disproportionately Black.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality said it does not comment on third-party reports or pending litigation, and that it remains committed to protecting public health through state and federal environmental laws. It said MZX Tech was required to demonstrate, as part of the permitting process, that the proposed facility would not violate air quality standards.

Residents are not reassured. Shannon Samsa, 27, a physician assistant in Southaven, has become a leading opponent of the plant, speaking at city meetings and directing the Safe and Sound Coalition. “It's not just my neighbors, it's not just my family and friends, it's my future patients,” she said. “It's also a huge healthcare issue.”

As SpaceXAI expands, the future of Polk's land remains uncertain. She said real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield approached her about buying the property on behalf of an unidentified client. After multiple “nos” over several weeks, she filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau accusing the firm of harassment and manipulation.

Cushman & Wakefield responded that it was exploring a potential acquisition and had made several attempts to contact Polk, but denied any inappropriate conduct. Polk said the company has not reached out since. She declined to disclose the offer, saying “it was not worth anything.”

Selling the land would mean going against her father's dying wish.

“He asked me to please keep it as much as I could within reason,” Polk said. “I'm not sure if you could offer a value.”