OpenAI is pouring more than $30 billion into a single stretch of Georgia countryside — a 3.2-gigawatt campus it will design and build itself. And from Virginia horse country to Texas ranchland, Americans are deciding whether projects like this belong in their backyards.
🤖 **AI/TECH** — OpenAI unveiled "Project Camellia," a $30B+, 3.2 GW data center campus on 1,400 acres in Effingham County near Savannah, Georgia — its first self-built facility. A 25-year Georgia Power deal phases in power 2028–2032; OpenAI pledged $80M in community benefits, up to $71M in Codex credits for Georgia students, 1,000 MW of flexible demand response, closed-loop cooling, and an independent annual audit. (Source: Bloomberg / DCD / TechRadar)
📣 **COMMUNITY** — Goochland County, Virginia residents packed a meeting at Goochland High School to confront Denver-based TRACT over the proposed 871-acre, up-to-900 MW Tuckahoe Creek Technology Park. Neighbors cited water use, noise, and heat; retiree Cynthia Hass said it would ruin the quiet retirement she moved there for. Hearings continue this fall. (Source: WTVR / Richmond BizSense)
⚖️ **LEGAL** — The Data Center Action Coalition and residents Kara Finlayson, Barry Lindsey, and Torrie Martin sued the Guadalupe County, Texas Commissioners Court to halt the CloudBurst and Palomino Alpha projects — 1,700+ rural acres, 4M+ sq ft, and an estimated $150M in property tax abatements — alleging insufficient public notice, private negotiations, and conflicts of interest. (Source: Seguin Gazette / Seguin Today / Law.com)
🏛️ **LEGAL** — Austin Newsom's federal lawsuit over Amazon's Louisa County, Virginia data center is moving forward: U.S. District Judge Jasmine Yoon let his private nuisance claim proceed. Newsom says construction upended the water table, fouled his tap water, and drove customers from his boat business, Central VA Marine. A preliminary injunction request is pending. (Source: 29News / WTVR)
⚡ **POWER** — President Trump expanded the Rate
