Effingham County residents sue OpenAI, county officials over Project Camellia data center

EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - Three Effingham County residents have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority, county commissioners and other officials. The suit alleges a concerted effort to keep Project Camellia, the land transaction and its terms secret from the public until the land was committed.The complaint was filed Nov. 6 in Effingham County State Court. The plaintiffs are Dr. Michelle Finch-Mincey, Lehman Mincey Jr. and Raymond Carver. The complaint says each is a resident, property owner and taxpayer in Effingham County. It says Carver lives in a neighborhood next to the proposed development.The allegations have not been proven in court.What the lawsuit says about the projectAccording to the complaint, Project Camellia is a proposed data center campus of four buildings totaling about 4.4 million square feet. OpenAI, through Octans GA LLC, plans to build it on about 1,440 acres in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub, at a reported