Effingham County residents push back on $20 billion OpenAI data center
Effingham County, Georgia residents are expressing significant concerns and pushing back against a proposed $20 billion OpenAI data center campus. The project, spanning 1,400 acres and including four buildings, is touted by county leaders as a way to reshape the tax base and cut property taxes, but residents fear the strain it will put on the area.
Effingham County, Georgia, is slated to be the site of a massive $20 billion data center campus proposed by OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. The project, known as "Project Camellia," is planned to cover approximately 1,400 acres within the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub and will include four buildings, promising 400 long-term jobs and new tax revenue.
Leaders from Effingham County and OpenAI, including Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane, highlight the potential economic benefits, such as reshaping the county's tax base and accelerating plans to cut property taxes. Lehane emphasized that the project represents "a real opportunity for us and hopefully a real opportunity for Effingham County in terms of bringing economic development, the jobs, the tax revenue, but doing it in the right way."
However, local residents have raised significant questions and concerns, expressing unhappiness with the prospect of the data center. Many fear the strain the large-scale development will put on the community, indicating that the promise of economic gain does not outweigh their apprehension.