![\"Kirsten](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d5774b8f-e522-4184-955c-ad5369940127_1757970989.png\")
<\/a>EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Ga. \u2014<\/p>\nAn open house on a proposed OpenAI data center campus in Effingham County drew a large crowd Thursday night, as residents voiced a mix of optimism, frustration and concern over a project that could reshape the area.<\/p>\n
Residents moved from table to table, speaking with OpenAI representatives, county officials and project leaders about the proposed development.<\/p>\n
Some attendees said they came away encouraged by the scale of the investment and the potential economic impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s excellent and I think it’s great for the county,\u201d attendee Kenneth Krebs said.<\/p>\n
Others said they left with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a little bit frustrated because there seems to be a lot of circular discussion,\u201d resident Summer Holt said. \u201cWhen I ask a question, instead of answering that question, I get rerouted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside the meeting, protesters gathered to oppose the proposed data center. Holding signs and chanting, they raised concerns about water use, rapid growth and how quickly the project was announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI quite frankly was shocked at how quickly this seemed to happen without anybody talking about it, being asked any questions,\u201d resident Destini Woodley said while protesting outside.<\/p>\n
Several residents told WJCL 22 News they did not learn about the project until Wednesday\u2019s announcement and believe the public should have been brought into the conversation earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel betrayed by this,\u201d said Lex Gunn, a lifelong Effingham County resident.<\/p>\n
OpenAI said it has been in talks with county leaders well before the project was announced publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project is moving forward,\u201d Aaron McLear, OpenAI\u2019s vice president of communications, said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working with county leaders for months.\u201d<\/p>\n
A central point of confusion for many residents was why the proposal advanced without a public vote. Effingham County Commissioner Phil Kieffer said the board of commissioners has not voted on the project because the property is already zoned for industrial use, including a data center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been no vote. No, nothing. Not even a thumbs up,\u201d Kieffer said. \u201cOur board has taken no action. The property is zoned industrial and has been for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials said the proposed campus would span about 1,400 acres and represent at least a $20 billion investment. OpenAI said the development would create hundreds of permanent jobs and bring millions of dollars in community investment.<\/p>\n
Resident Nick Dowling said he supports the proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really am excited about, not only job opportunities, but how they’re taking that preemptive step about the development of this new location,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Still, concerns about infrastructure surfaced repeatedly throughout the evening, especially around whether the county can support more large-scale growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot properly sustain this growth,\u201d Gunn said. \u201cI understand they talk about investing in the power grid. But how can they talk about that when our current power grid can\u2019t even handle it?\u201d<\/p>\n
County leaders said the project must still go through local review before construction can begin.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my understanding, the first time they\u2019ll come to us will be for site plan approval,\u201d Kieffer said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Packed meeting, protests erupt as OpenAI data center divides Effingham County As residents directed frustration at county leaders,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[24,25,36978,4454,2372,85,2864,42963,58739,39946,2981,53448,2072,4279,9309,157,6006,32952,16966,25228,32955,56723,28307],"class_list":["post-117441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-commission","tag-controversy","tag-county","tag-data-center","tag-debate","tag-demand-menu-subscribe","tag-effingham-county","tag-email-weather-search","tag-georgia","tag-local-leaders","tag-meeting","tag-nowcast","tag-open-house","tag-openai","tag-page","tag-privacy-notice-term","tag-protest","tag-residents","tag-use-nextfre","tag-weekday-news-watch","tag-wjcl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}