A group of Effingham County residents and environmental advocacy groups has filed three lawsuits over Project Camellia, the proposed $20 billion data center campus from OpenAI and Octans GA LLC. The latest complaint, filed around Nov. 6 to 9, 2026, names OpenAI, local officials, and the county Industrial Development Authority. It alleges conspiracy, fraud, and civil racketeering. All claims remain allegations, and no court has ruled on them.
What the project would include
Project Camellia would sit on 1,440 acres in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near Rincon. Plans call for 4.4 million square feet of facilities and up to 3.2 gigawatts of power. Construction phases are expected to begin in 2028, with five phases through 2034. The project could create at least 80 permanent jobs per phase. Tax incentives tied to the deal are estimated at $870 million to $900 million over 15 years.
How the deal became public
The project only surfaced publicly on July 22, 2026. By then, it had reportedly been discussed in private negotiations for nearly nine months under confidentiality agreements. That secrecy is central to the complaints. One lawsuit challenges a county zoning ordinance that plaintiffs say allows data centers on industrial land without required public hearings. Another targets the Industrial Development Authority and alleges violations of Georgia’s Open Meetings and Open Records Acts. Plaintiffs point to codenames such as Project Gateway and agendas they say were changed without prior notice.
The third lawsuit and what it claims
The third complaint is broader. It ties OpenAI, county officials, and the authority into one case and alleges civil racketeering, fraud, and conspiracy. Again, these are claims, not findings. The suit appears to argue that the approval process hid the scale of the deal from residents until it was already in motion.
Why the cases matter
For OpenAI, perhaps the biggest near-term risk is delay and public friction. Construction is not set to start until 2028, so courts may have time to weigh in before work begins. For Effingham County, a ruling against the authority could put the $870 million to $900 million incentive package under scrutiny. The zoning case could also reach beyond this project. If plaintiffs succeed in requiring public hearings for data centers on industrial land, future developments in the county may face a more open approval process. For now, the lawsuits are moving through the courts, and the outcome is uncertain.
