Elon Musk

On a 2-acre property in Mississippi, 52-year-old Krystal Polk's family lived off the land for generations, raising chickens and pigs, growing onions and herbs and trading their peaches for pears.

While life there may have been simple in Polk's view, the circumstances surrounding her home rarely ever were. Her family acquired the property "before people of color were allowed to have land," she said, and it's been passed down for four generations. When Polk's parents first moved in, they discovered "KKK" scrawled at the bottom of the hill of their property, she said.

The plant, which is powering Elon Musk's SpaceXAI data centers in the Memphis area, has sparked backlash from Southaven residents concerned about noise and air pollution. A petition by the resident-run Safe and Sound Coalition calling to shut down the power plant has over 1,400 signatures.

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

SpaceXAI, formerly known as xAI, recently said in a July press release that it is investing millions of dollars in sound walls and silencers with "advanced quieting technologies" around the plant. Southaven residents have told CBS News that one sound wall installed so far has provided little reprieve from the noise.

Musk's SpaceXAI projects will total more than $20 billion in investments to Southaven, which Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a press release will "bring amazing opportunities to its residents for generations."

"We don't know the future," she said. "So we're not sure what to invest into it."

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

She planned to return as a retiree and eventually pass the property down to her children. But now, those plans have been put on hold. Apart from the "24/7" noise, Polk said she and her family have asthma and are concerned about fumes from the gas turbines at the plant.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other groups sued xAI and its subsidiary MZX Tech in April, alleging that the plant "emits significant amounts of harmful pollutants."

CBS News reached out to SpaceXAI multiple times for comment and has not heard back.

But a study conducted by EmPower Analytics Group found that the plan to install dozens of gas turbines would increase air pollution in the area and would be concentrated in communities that are disproportionately Black. The study was commissioned by the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the NAACP's lawsuit against xAI and MZX Tech.