Effingham County to Vote on OpenAI Data Center Plan on Election Day
Effingham County commissioners are scheduled to vote Nov. 3 on OpenAI’s Project Camellia data center site plan in Springfield, Georgia. Residents and environmental advocates are questioning the Election Day timing and the plan’s potential impacts on 72 acres of wetlands, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reviews a related federal permit.
Effingham County commissioners are scheduled to vote Nov. 3 on the site plan for OpenAI’s proposed Project Camellia data center in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near Springfield. The approximately 1,347-acre plan includes six data center buildings, substations, cooling infrastructure and other facilities. The vote was postponed from September at the request of Octans GA LLC, an OpenAI affiliate.
Residents and environmental advocates have criticized holding the vote while polls are open and before the Army Corps of Engineers’ public comment period ends Nov. 4. The federal permit application seeks authorization to fill about 72 acres of forested wetlands, which advocates say support local waterways and wildlife. Effingham County and OpenAI maintain that county site plan approval would not authorize wetland filling or federally regulated construction before the Army Corps issues its permit; OpenAI also says it will spend more than $20 million on wetland mitigation.