Nearly 1,000 residents packed a Georgia open house to confront OpenAI over a $20 billion data center negotiated for months behind closed doors — and announced without a single public vote. From a 14-hour hearing in Colorado to a Kentucky town doubling its own borders, the fight over America's data center boom is escalating fast.
📣 **COMMUNITY** — Nearly 1,000 people confronted OpenAI and Effingham County, Georgia officials over "Project Camellia," a $20B, four-building campus on the 2,600-acre Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near Rincon — negotiated for months and announced without public comment or a vote. OpenAI has already locked in 3.2 GW of power; launch is targeted for 2028. (Source: The Current GA / GPB / WTOC / TechTimes)
⚖️ **LEGAL** — After a 14-hour hearing, the Colorado Springs Planning Commission voted 6–2 to deny all resident appeals against Raeden's "Project Taurus" data center at a former Intel plant near Garden of the Gods Road. Conditions: 10 years of utility-use reporting and a 50 MW cap. Opponents have until Aug 3 to escalate to City Council. (Source: CS Gazette / KKTV / CPR / FOX21)
⚡ **POWER** — New Mexico regulators rejected a 17-mile natural gas pipeline that would have supplied Oracle's 2.5 GW "Project Jupiter" campus, citing water use, emissions, and limited state revenue — the project's second energy denial. Oracle says it remains on schedule. (Source: Data Center Dynamics)
💧 **WATER** — Burgin, Kentucky (pop. ~1,000) voted 3–2 to annex 1,000+ acres — doubling the town — for a potential hyperscale data center. Water supplier Harrodsburg formally objected, citing a missed 14-day legal notice, an unlimited industrial water contract, and a $30M waterline rerouting cost. (Source: Kentucky Lantern / Harrodsburg Herald / WKYT)
📜 **POLICY** — Pennsylvania's $50.8B budget deal requires data centers using 10+ MW annually to disclose energy and water use — while leaving untouched a sales tax exemption projected to cost the state $2B by mid-2031
