The Trump administration is coming to the defense of Elon Musk in a lawsuit over claims that his artificial intelligence company, xAI, is polluting residential neighborhoods in north Mississippi. The Department of Justice (DOJ) told a federal court late on Monday to throw out the case.

The lawsuit was filed by the NAACP in April over allegations that xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech set up dozens of methane-gas turbines to power its data center in Southaven, Mississippi, without air permits. The suit claims these turbines emit toxic pollutants in violation of the Clean Air Act, and is asking a judge to block xAI from operating the machines.

“There is no moral or legal precedent for this…It’s a desperate attempt to protect wealthy tech companies from obeying the laws.”

The DOJ says this data center is being used to train and develop AI models that are “critical to the economy and the Department of War” and the turbines are necessary to power the facility. In a 33-page memo filed in Mississippi federal court, the government also claims that under the Clean Air Act, it can terminate such “citizen lawsuits.”