Mayor Advises Homeowner Complaining About Data Center Noise Reaching His Bedroom: “Consider Selling Your Home”
Jason Haley hasn’t had a full night’s sleep in months. At 4 a.m., the 46-year-old Southaven, Mississippi resident lies awake listening to a constant whirring sound, like an airplane parked over his roof. The source: a power plant built to run Elon Musk’s xAI data centers a mile from his house. Haley isn’t alone. He’s one of three residents now suing the company, and his own emails to the mayor reveal exactly how that fight has gone.
xAI’s Colossus Supercomputer Went Online in Memphis in September 2024
xAI launched Colossus in Memphis in September 2024, calling it the world’s largest AI supercomputer. By July 2025, Musk announced a second facility, Colossus 2, was weeks from operation. Days later, Southaven residents saw a Facebook post from Mayor Darren Musselwhite: a dormant energy facility would be revived to power xAI’s expansion. Comments split immediately between residents welcoming the investment and others worried about environmental strain. Around that same time, Haley started noticing a new sound in his neighborhood.
Haley Assumed the Sound Was a Neighbor’s Leaf Blower
At first, Haley figured someone had left a leaf blower running nonstop. By December, the sound hadn’t stopped, and neither had his headaches or sleeplessness. He tried earplugs and a box fan for white noise. Nothing worked. He emailed Musselwhite directly, urging him to drive through the neighborhood and listen for himself. The mayor responded within the hour: he was aware of the problem and working with xAI on a fix.
Haley Told the Mayor He Wasn’t a Democrat or Republican
Months later, still awake at 4 a.m., Haley emailed Musselwhite again, describing ringing ears and a noise so loud he could hear it from his bed. He added a disclaimer: he wasn’t politically motivated, and hadn’t even known whose project it was when he first complained. Musselwhite called him “a reasonable person” but added a warning of his own, telling Haley to be careful who he associates with so he doesn’t damage his own credibility.
Mayor Told Homeowner “You May Want to Consider Selling Your Home”
By January, a third xAI data center, MACROHARDDR, was underway in Southaven. Musselwhite began framing local pushback as political, posting that the city was “under attack by all who choose to oppose Elon Musk.” In March, in the same email where he called the noise “one of my highest priorities,” he offered Haley different advice: xAI wanted housing for its employees, he wrote, so Haley might want to consider selling his home. CBS News reached out to Musselwhite for comment and did not hear back.
Taylor Logsdon’s Children All Have Ringing in Their Ears
Selling isn’t an option for everyone. Taylor Logsdon, 31, bought her Southaven home over a decade ago and built her family’s life around its quiet. Now the noise sometimes shakes the house, and she says she and her children, all under 13, have persistent ringing in their ears and constant headaches. Her kids struggle to stay awake at school, and one has become uncharacteristically irritable. Logsdon says she’d move tomorrow if she had the money saved to do it.
Sound Recordings Show Levels Exceeding WHO’s Nighttime Limit by 20 Decibels
Haley has recorded over 60 decibels from his backyard as late as 10:15 p.m. The World Health Organization recommends nighttime noise stay under 40 decibels outside bedrooms to avoid health harm. Dr. Samoon Ahmad, a clinical psychiatry professor at NYU, says constant humming or buzzing is linked to headaches, stress and sleep disruption, and that annoyance from noise carries real physiological consequences, not just discomfort. xAI spent millions on a sound wall, berm and evergreen trees to muffle the plant. Logsdon says it hasn’t made a dent.
Gas Turbine Count at Southaven Plant Rose From 27 to 59
Health concerns aren’t limited to noise. The NAACP sued xAI in April, alleging its Southaven plant emits significant pollutants from gas turbines that have since more than doubled, growing from 27 to 59. The group is also appealing Mississippi’s decision to permit the site to run 41 methane turbines, citing a study warning the plant would worsen air quality in a county already facing high rates of asthma-related ER visits. Nationally, Gallup found 71% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their local area, more than oppose local nuclear plants.
xAI’s Southaven Investment Has Reached $20 Billion
Musk’s stake in Southaven now totals $20 billion, according to Governor Tate Reeves’ office, which called it the largest economic development project in state history. MZX Tech, xAI’s subsidiary, donated more than $1.3 million to the Southaven Police Department in February and has offered discounted Starlink service to area residents. Southaven’s median household income sits at over $70,000, roughly $20,000 above the state average, a fact Logsdon says undercuts the argument that her town needed saving.
Logsdon Says Southaven Was Never “a Failure Town”
Logsdon rejects the idea that her community needed rescuing. Southaven’s economy was healthy before the plant arrived, she says, and she’s left wondering why officials seem willing to let a few residents absorb the cost of everyone else’s benefit. She plans to return to work this fall to save enough to move her family elsewhere. Until then, her goal is smaller: one full night of sleep, and a backyard she can use without her children’s ears ringing afterward.