OpenAI data center would fill 72 acres of wetlands
OpenAI has applied for a Clean Water Act permit to fill 72 acres of forested wetlands for a 183-acre data center campus in Effingham County, Georgia. Environmental advocates are urging the public to challenge the project’s wetland impacts, site alternatives and potential effects on flooding and water quality before the Nov. 4 comment deadline.
OpenAI, through its affiliate Octans GA, is seeking federal approval to fill 72 acres of wetlands for a four-building hyperscale data center at the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub in Effingham County. The proposed campus would cover about 183 acres and requires a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. OpenAI says proximity to adequate electricity, along with land, transportation, zoning, water and sewer access, drove its site-selection process.
Jeff Beauvais of the environmental nonprofit One Hundred Miles is urging residents to comment on the application and request a public hearing. He argues the project could worsen flooding along Dasher and Sweigoffer creeks and that purchasing mitigation-bank credits would not replace the wetlands’ local benefits. Beauvais also questions why OpenAI limited its alternatives analysis to Coastal Georgia, while OpenAI spokesman Aaron McClear defended the approach as appropriate for the specific project. One proposed alternative, the former Union Carbide property in Camden County, is being acquired by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for a wildlife management area.